The Gold Coast whale watching season runs from the end of May to the end of October. During this time, you are incredibly likely to see more than one humpback whale on your Kokomo Whale Watching Cruise.
Guaranteed Whale Sightings
Or Receive A Free Return Voucher
Kokomo Cruises has had a 100% success rate of finding whales on our Whale Watching Gold Coast cruises for the past two years! We also offer a whale sighting guarantee – or receive a free return voucher with no expiry!
Wild animals are naturally unpredictable, so no two cruises are ever the same. While we can’t guarantee which day will offer the most memorable encounter, each stage of the whale watching season brings its own unique experience — here’s what you can expect depending on the time of year.
Early Season: Late May – Late June
This is when the first of the whales are coming past the Gold Coast on their migration. These whales are usually the juveniles that have lots of energy to spend – either trying to find a partner to mate with or playing around. Either way, we get a lot of breaching action, tail slapping, and peduncle throws! The month of June usually offers the most consistent and best sea conditions of the season.
Early-Mid Season: Late May – June
This time offers the best opportunities to see newborn whales (calves) on the Gold Coast. A fresh calf is approximately 1 meter in length, and weighs around 1 tonne. They have a light grey skin tone and a bent dorsal fin (the key trait of being under 1 week old). Being able to witness the bond between the mother and her new calf is incredibly special.
Mid Season: August – September
We now see whales travelling both north and south. The last of the mothers and their newborns head north and the first of the juveniles head south.
During this period, we most commonly get the interactions called ‘mugging’. This is when the whales take close interest in the vessel and the guests onboard, swimming in circles around the boat, on-looking with curiosity. The humpbacks will often ‘spy hop’ by sticking their head straight out of the water slowly to have direct sight of what is on the surface – sometimes so close you can nearly touch them!
Late Season: October
Many of the mothers and calves are now making their way back down south, the calves have grown a lot and are very active. During this time, we get to see the mothers teaching their calves how to breach and tail slap, as well as see the calves play around and feed from their mothers.
