This post is brought to you in partnership with Viking Kayaks (one of our new website/adventure travel sponsors).
If you told me last Saturday (when I first entered the Sunshine Coast Kayak & SUP store) that I would be Kayaking with Humpback Whales on my very first Kayak adventure in just a few short days I would have NEVER believed you…but guess what? It happened!
We’ve been experiencing some spectacular spring weather here on the beautiful Sunshine Coast and searching the popular #visitsunshinecoast hashtag on Instagram had me pondering new ways to get out on the water with my family! We’ve always loved boating, fishing and body surfing but so many people are now into Kayaks and SUP boards (Stand up Paddle Boards)….it’s such a popular trend, for very good reasons! That’s why I decided to call into their showroom on our way home from Jujitsu training…the kids were thrilled when they were able to test ‘drive’ some Kayaks on their INDOOR test pool!!
I look forward to sharing more details about our new family Kayak in the coming weeks but I couldn’t help but quickly write about the amazing encounter we had with some Humpback Whales off Mooloolaba just yesterday!
Jason from Viking Kayaks (also known as The Paddle Guy) invited me out to test my new Viking Kayak before we head on our family holiday to Fraser Island (next week). He mentioned that we might get lucky and see a few whales along the horizon as we learnt the ‘ropes’ of our new Kayak. I invited my friend Erin along as I knew she had some paddling experience (unlike myself).
It wasn’t long into our paddle (which was way easier than I expected) when we first spotted some dark shapes off in the distance, they appeared to be a mother Humpback Whale and her calf. We were amazed to witness the baby calf breach off in the distance, it continued to do so about 15 times! It was then that I decided to grab my phone from the dry well and go LIVE on our Facebook page.
I NEVER expected the mother and calf to change their direction and approach our Kayaks! Within 3 minutes of going LIVE the baby decided to give us an extra close view of it’s newly learnt trick…it breached RIGHT IN FRONT OF OUR KAYAK!! It was almost like it knew his ‘tricks’ were being broadcast around the world! You can watch the full encounter here.
We think the mother knew it’s baby was a little too close for comfort and she came right along side us to usher ‘him’ away. We were sad to see them leave but SO grateful for the close encounter we had with them and that we were able to share it LIVE with our fellow Fun Mums!
I cannot believe it took me so long to get on a Kayak!!! I’m 100% certain that I’ve been bitten by the ocean bug and am so excited to embark on some incredible adventures with my family! We will be sure to share them all with you here too!
Please watch the full Facebook LIVE video here – At the end of the video it will ask if you would like to subscribe to catch all of our adventures too! You can find stockists and everything else you need to know about Viking Kayaks here as well as checking out Jason’s great Paddle Guy website here. I’m also going to throw in a shameless plug for our friend Erin’s Instagram page here – perfect if you’re interested in fitness and health!
Did I mention we also made the local paper and News? You can read that story here and see Seven News’s video here.
Louise xx
