Chasing my Dreams!

On 5th July 2013, myself and some friends climbed aboard Mooloolabas ‘Whale One’…the boat which was to take us out (I believe we were about 10 miles out!) into a whole other world – into the open waters off Mooloolaba to go spot some whales on their migration, out in the ocean.  Being an ‘ocean girl’, and having a love for marine creatures, I have been wanting to do this for SO long….and today was the day! Awesome! 😀

As I drove to Mooloolaba, and into The Wharf complex, I could feel that oh-so-familiar feeling of nervous excitement deep down in the pit of my stomach, a feeling I get whenever Im about to tick something awesome off my bucketlist – its a feeling which I have grown to love…and to live for! Its a feeling of REALLY being alive! 🙂

We boarded the boat, chatting away happily to some others passengers who were about to experience this magical morning…settled into our viewing areas on the boat..the engines started – and we were off!  Wow…such an awesome feeling…

On the way out, off the Coast of Mooloolaba…it truly is another world out here…magical!

…this is what unfolded..

Wow….wow…thats up there as almost one of the best experiences of my life! To be out there, right in amongst the ‘whales turf’, and out in the, what they call the ‘highway’ (the track that the whales take in migration) – BEYOND amazing!  It was quite surreal…there was a lot of lurking around (that was very, very cool..seeing the whales surface and glide through the water, then theyd go back under the water – you know theyre there, theyre right there – but you cannot see them – at some points you could see the super-smooth ‘shapes’ of water which told us that they were right there, right below the surface, but we couldnt see them…ooooh haha), surfacing over the top of the water, and under us, by these beautiful creatures – probably 5 all up choosing to drift around us, and in the distance…what we saw was just so special!

“Hi!!” – such a gorgeous moment, the whale breaching out of the water, to ‘greet’ us, and play!
(photos courtesy of Whale One photographer)

One absolutely beautiful moment (if this was the only ‘moment’ on the entire trip, I would have been completely satisfied, it truely was magical – there is nothing like being right there to experience the magic!) was the high breach (a huge amazing leap out of the water, basically right in front of where I was, on back left of the boat), there was apparently another smaller breach on the upper end of the boat which I didnt see…LOADS of surfacing, the whales showing themselves and their top fins/part of their body out of the water for us – there was 3 at various stages, lurking around, and then others further along. And as a bonus, a beautiful pod of dolphins swimming right beside us on my side of the boat, next to me, on the way back.   Amazing…Im in love with these beautiful creatures even more now!

our first glimpse of a whale in the distance – the magic was about to begin!

I didnt get a lot of ‘action shots myself, and missed capturing the amazing breach as it just happens so quick…you’re so mesmerised with waiting for them, and watching them, that the camera sort of gets forgotten…lol.. but I did get a few ‘surface’ shots of them.

Even when you see just the top of the whale – you know that there is a huge magificent beast lurking just under the water – no other feeling like it, knowing this!

I am just amazed at the experience..it was truely awesome – nature at its most raw, and at its finest. A huge reminder that when we are out in the ocean, we are in the whales/marine creatures turf…and they totally call the shots, so its up to them how much they want to play….they certainly were very inquisitive, the ones which lurked around the boat for ages!  Made me have the feeling of wanting to go swim with them…haha…

LOVED it…totally recommend it…would go back out there tomorrow if I could!

Whale Watching was amongst one of the first ‘dreams’ I placed on my list when it was first born.  The evening I got back to the hotel in the city, after ticking off my #1 Life Dream – Racing in a V8 Supercar – the day that my mind discovered, when I got out of that beautiful #17 V8 Supercar, that I could do absolutely ANYTHING, was when I sat down with pen and paper and thought ‘you know what, what ELSE do I want to do in my life??’, and thats when Whale Watching made it to my list.  Less than 2yrs later, that dream became my reality – thanks to perfect timing (and pricing, with the voucher/discount price we discovered just when my friends and I were talking about doing it ‘one day’).  Got to love how things often happen in waves…you want to do it, you action it, you start to talk/think about it….and the opportunity appears in front of you! 🙂

“Whale One”

Thank you so much to Whale One staff, and of course to Midgey, the Whale Whisperer dog…hehe (Midgey had such a, excuse the pun lol…whale of a time out on the boat!)  Your customer service, the magical experience you bring to us, the way you assisted me with my chair, on and off the boat, was absolutely brilliant!

Midgey the Whale One dog!

*oh…and as a side note – on the way back into The Wharf complex, I happened to stroll past a row of jetski’s…oooooh….Riding a Jetski just happens to be No. #3 on my List..haha… you know where my mind went right there, dont you? 😉

ANYTHING is possible….when you experience the true magic of life itself!