More than 70 whales were seen in one day off the coast of Eden in the past week, the most in almost three decades.
Along with sightings, Cat Balou cruise owner Rosalind Butt said there had been more singing than she could remember coming through on the hydrophone.
More than 70 whales were spotted off the coast of Eden in one day.Credit: Rosalind Butt
Ms Butt said whale-watchers were treated on Thursday morning to the most spectacular sightings she could recall in 27 years, since she and husband Gordon started running the cruises on the NSW far south coast.
"We seem to have been averaging 15-25 [individual whale sightings] on most trips, and then one day last week on the morning trip we estimated about 50, and about another 20 on the shorter one in the afternoon," she said.
"That was probably the most whales we've ever seen in one day."
Ms Butt said they were mostly humpback whale mothers and their calves on their southern migration bound for the Antarctic.
"Our season kicked off late August and at the start of the season we were getting mainly sub-adults and adults. For the past six weeks or so we've been getting a constant stream of mothers and their calves."
Ms Butt said it was a great sign of recovery for the magnificent marine mammals, which she predicts are breeding faster than research expected.
It's a far cry from the grisly history of Eden, an historic whaling town.
The Killer Whale Museum, which holds the fascinating history of the town, alerts of sightings of whales from shore with an alarm that rings out through Eden.
"I'd say it would have been sounding quite frequently," Ms Butt said.
She said Eden was lucky in that whale-watchers could not only watch from the sea but land.
"It's amazing. I think we're lucky where we are that people have the opportunity to watch them from shore. There are some good viewing platforms in Eden itself and places along Ben Boyd National Park if you find a cliff top there."
Ms Butt said the whales sighted recently had been very playful, particularly the sub-adults and females with calves.
She helps contribute to research by taking photographs of the flukes of whales, their identifying feature, that are seen on the cruises. Ms Butt's photographs can be found on Facebook by searching Cat Balou.