whale-breaching-in-front-of-glasshouse-mtns-1-photo-by-katie-jackson-web

Whales here and ready to watch us humans!

Published on: June 3, 2021Category: News

The Humpback Whales are back, and the 2021 Whale Watching Season on the Sunshine Coast is set to start this weekend, presenting a special opportunity for locals and Queenslanders.

Sunreef Mooloolaba’s Dan Hart said this year’s whale watching season was set to be another fantastic one, with 35,000 humpback whales expected to travel north, and then back south through Sunshine Coast waters this winter.

Dan said the number of whales migrating north up Australia’s east coast was continuing to increase by about 10% a year, according to whale researchers.

“If last year’s season is anything to go by, we will see whales from now through until the end of the season in early November, and we expect we can expect more than 25,000 people on our whale watching and swim with whales experiences.

whale-breaching-in-front-of-glasshouse-mtns-1-photo-by-katie-jackson-web

2020 Sunshine Coast Whale Watching Season is here!

Published on: June 15, 2020Category: News

The Humpback Whales are back and the 2020 Whale Watching Season on the Sunshine Coast has begun, presenting a special opportunity for locals and Queenslanders.

Sunreef Mooloolaba’s Dan Hart said this year’s whale watching season started a little later than usual due to COVID-19 but that with restricted numbers on board it offers a special experience.

“This year we started a couple of weeks later than usual, but we have our COVID SAFE plan in place which includes additional cleaning and hygiene measures as well as a restriction on the number of people on board,” Dan said.

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“While normally we would have up to 100 guests onboard each whale watching trip on Whale One, at this stage we are hosting just 20 guests for each trip.

Whale One new look

Sunshine Sunshine Coast Whale Watching Season launched and iconic Whale One’s new look christened

Published on: May 29, 2019Category: News

The Whales are back and today heralds the official launch of the 2019 Whale Watching Season on the Sunshine Coast and the official christening of the new-look Whale One, which has just undergone a complete makeover.

This year will see an expected 33,000 humpback whales migrate through Sunshine Coast waters, which will attract about 25,000 locals and tourists alike to take a closer look and participate in a whale watching or swim with whales experience.

Sunreef Mooloolaba owner Dan Hart said in preparation for the season this year, the iconic Sunshine Coast whale watching vessel Whale One has undergone a complete makeover. Over the past few months, the 20-metre catamaran was striped back to bare metal, and completely refurbished.

Whale 2 cropped - Shot with special permission for USC research by Dr Javier Leon-web

USC gets drone’s eye view of migrating whales

Published on: October 18, 2018Category: News

Inexpensive drones are offering scientists from the University of the Sunshine Coast a spectacular birds’ eye view of migrating humpback whales.

Two times a day, three days a week, researchers are setting sail in a Sunreef tourist boat into the waters off Mooloolaba.

Tourism researcher Dr Vikki Schaffer said the drone was an inexpensive consumer-grade model chosen so that the experiment could be replicated in other areas.

“Drones offer an aerial view that is absolutely changing the game for whale research which, to date, has been challenged because of the logistics around getting close to whales,” she said.

Dan Hart Sunreef Whale One

Sunreef Mooloolaba expanding whale tourism venture to include Whale One

Published on: May 23, 2018Category: News

South East Queensland’s premiere scuba diving and Australia’s first Swim with Humpback Whales experience operator, Sunreef Mooloolaba, is expanding their immersive ocean experiences, adding whale watching to its portfolio, having purchased Whale One.

The expansion, which adds to Sunreef’s purchase of adventure hire company Hire Hut at the beginning of the year, means there is no better place to go for aquatic adventure.

“We love the Sunshine Coast and believe strongly in the tourism and hospitality sector here and are proud to have the successful Whale One operations now powered by Sunreef Mooloolaba,” Sunreef owner Dan Hart said.

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