Top spots for whale-watching in South Australia

Grab your binoc­u­lars, because whale watch­ing sea­son starts this time of year. To help you spot one, here’s all you need to know.

When is the best time to spot whales in South Australia?

The annu­al migra­tion of south­ern right and hump­back whales to SA waters occurs dur­ing the cool­er months. Gen­er­al­ly, SA whale migra­tion starts in May and fin­ish­es in Octo­ber, with fre­quent sight­ings of these giants of the deep occur­ring between June and Sep­tem­ber. Dur­ing this time, south­ern right whales mate, give birth and nurse their young. 

What types of whales are found in South Australia?

The most com­mon­ly sight­ed whales in SA are the south­ern right whales and hump­back whales, which grace the coast­line of South Aus­tralia each year from May to October.

Toothed whales such as sperm whales, pilot whales and orcas are around, but are usu­al­ly found fur­ther off­shore. The world’s largest ani­mal, the blue whale, feeds off­shore in the upwelling zones near Kan­ga­roo Island and the Bon­ney Coast.

How to tell dif­fer­ent whale species apart

It’s not just phys­i­cal char­ac­ter­is­tics that can iden­ti­fy a species. Whale species behave dif­fer­ent­ly and you can tell one from the oth­er by their behaviours. 

Where to spot whales in South Australia?

Whales vis­it the entire length of South Australia’s coast­line, mak­ing our state a whale-watch­ing par­adise with an end­less choice of scenery. 

Spot 1: Encounter Marine Park, Vic­tor Harbour

Encounter Marine Park offers some of the best whale watch­ing loca­tions in South Aus­tralia. From mid-May to Sep­tem­ber, south­ern right whales migrate from their Antarc­tic feed­ing grounds to mate and give birth along the coast of south­ern Australia.

Basham’s Beach is pop­u­lar with female whales and their calves. With such close prox­im­i­ty to the shore, it is fast becom­ing the best spot to see whales in Encounter Bay. If you choose to vis­it Vic­tor Har­bor, remem­ber to stop in at the SA Whale Cen­tre for a whale fact warm-up before you get started.

Last year, Far West Senior Ranger Rob Sleep shared a few prime loca­tions on the Far West Coast and Eyre Penin­su­la to go whale watching.

Spot 2: Head of the Bight, Nullarbor

A road-trip wor­thy 12-hour dri­ve from Ade­laide, the Head of the Bight’s high cliff-line pro­vides fan­tas­tic views for land-based whale-watchers. 

The Head of Bight Whale Watch­ing Cen­tre, locat­ed with­in the Yala­ta Indige­nous Pro­tect­ed Area approx­i­mate­ly 20km south-east of Nullar­bor Road­house, is well worth a vis­it. As well as pro­vid­ing infor­ma­tion about the types of whales to look for, and inter­est­ing facts such as their behav­iours, and the types of food they enjoy, the whale watch­ing cen­tre has lunch facil­i­ties and a toi­let, mak­ing it a great spot to pop into.

It has a wheel­chair acces­si­ble board­walk lead­ing you safe­ly to the shore­line to wit­ness the spec­tac­u­lar south­ern right whales and their calves. When stand­ing on the board­walk, you’re look­ing out over the Far West Coast Marine Park, which links to the off­shore Great Aus­tralian Bight Marine Park. August is the peak sea­son to see whales at this spot, with up to 300 whales spot­ted in the busier years, and 160 in the qui­eter ones.

Spot 3: Fowlers Bay Con­ser­va­tion Park

Anoth­er spot to vis­it on your whale-watch­ing jour­ney on the EP and Far West is Fowlers Bay Con­ser­va­tion Park and the Nuyts Arch­i­pel­ago Marine Park. The sleepy sea­side town­ship of Fowlers Bay lies approx­i­mate­ly 1.5 hours, or 160 km, west of Ceduna, with a very small pop­u­la­tion of 20 peo­ple call­ing it home.

Once a whal­ing hub, the bay now pro­vides a sanc­tu­ary for whales to calf after their long jour­ney up from the Antarc­tic. Head to Point Fowler where you can find a ruined look­out and whale bones, which are evi­dence of the area’s whal­ing history.

You might spot south­ern right whales at this spot, oth­er­wise try Scott’s Point and Mex­i­can Hat, with­in Fowlers Bay Con­ser­va­tion Park. 

Spot 4: Sleaford Bay

Anoth­er spot not to miss is fur­ther south, at Sleaford Bay, a 20-minute dri­ve from SA’s seafood cap­i­tal Port Lincoln.

Sleaford Bay is locat­ed with­in Thorny Pas­sage Marine Park, with some of the area ful­ly pro­tect­ed with­in the Sleaford Bay Sanc­tu­ary Zone. Part of the area is also adja­cent to the famous Lin­coln Nation­al Park.

South­ern Right whales were hunt­ed in the bay, which had a whal­ing sta­tion in the 1830s and 40s. Now that the pop­u­la­tion is recov­er­ing from the whal­ing era, the area is emerg­ing as an impor­tant site for this species. Hump­back whales, dol­phins and oth­er marine mam­mal species can also be viewed in the area.

You can try view­ing the whales from the look­outs adja­cent the coast along Sleaford Bay Road, or from van­tage points with­in Lin­coln Nation­al Park, book your day trip online here.

There are also rem­nants of the old whal­ing sta­tion at Fish­ery Bay, which is also a pop­u­lar surf break. While you are there, check out the amaz­ing scenery of Whalers Way, with per­mits avail­able at https://​portlin​coln​.com​.au/​w​h​a​t​-​t​o​-​d​o​-​p​o​r​t​-​l​i​n​c​o​l​n​/​w​h​a​l​e​r​s-way.

Acces­si­ble whale-watch­ing locations 

There are a num­ber of fan­tas­tic acces­si­ble whale-watch­ing spots around Vic­tor Har­bour, per­fect for any­one with a mobil­i­ty impair­ment. Check out these 8 acces­si­ble whale-watch­ing loca­tions here.

Tra­di­tion­al Owners

All of South Australia’s nation­al parks are rich in Abo­rig­i­nal his­to­ry. Vic­tor Har­bor and Encounter Bay Marine Park are the tra­di­tion­al lands of the Ngar­rind­jeri and Ramindjeri.

Tra­di­tion­al lands of the Far West Coast Abo­rig­i­nal Peo­ple and Fowlers Bay Con­ser­va­tion Park are part of the War­na Man­da parks. ​‘War­na Man­da’ refers to the coastal parks in the Far West of South Aus­tralia. ​‘War­na’, mean­ing ​‘sea’, ​‘Man­da’ mean­ing ​‘ground’ or ​‘sand’ in the local Wiran­gu language.

Sleaford Bay and Lin­coln Nation­al Park are the tra­di­tion­al lands of the Naou people.

Tra­di­tion­al cus­to­di­ans wel­come vis­i­tors and ask that you please appre­ci­ate the sen­si­tiv­i­ty of this land and to please respect Country.

Tips for whale watching

You can enjoy watch­ing these mag­nif­i­cent whales breach­ing, body-rolling and tail-lob­bing from view­ing plat­forms or by book­ing with a pri­vate tour oper­a­tor. Here are some quick tips to get you started:

• Bring a pair of binoculars.
• Get up high for a bet­ter view.
• Be patient – whales move at their own pace.
• Know the law – marine mam­mal reg­u­la­tions are in place to pro­tect whales from being dis­turbed while in our waters.
• Research local whales.
• Stay up-to-date on whale sight­ings and share sight­ing info on the SA Whale Cen­tre website.

If you do sight a whale you can con­tribute to cit­i­zen sci­ence by record­ing your sight­ing on the SA Whale Cen­tre’s sight­ing log.

To find out which whales are like­ly to be found in our marine parks, check out this map. And if you spot one your­self, be sure to share your pho­tos with us in the com­ments sec­tion below.

Did you know? Fun facts about whales

• South­ern Right Whales can be iden­ti­fied by skin growths called cal­losi­ties. These unique pat­terns can be found on top of their head and around their mouths. A whale’s cal­losi­ties are so unique they are like human fingerprints!

• These indi­vid­ual cal­los­i­ty pat­terns have enabled sci­en­tists to iden­ti­fy and track whales and the Encounter Bay Right Whale Study has learned South­ern Right Whales often return to the same bay they were born to mate, give birth to their own calves, nurse their young and socialise. 

• They will stay on the same stretch of coast for sev­er­al months to feed their young in the warmer waters. Once of breed­ing age, whales can calf rough­ly every three years.

• Hump­back whales can grow to around 17m in length and weigh up to 40 tonnes. They are known for their long-dis­tance migra­tions, which can cov­er dis­tances of 8,000 kilo­me­tres or more from their feed­ing grounds to breed­ing grounds.

• Male hump­back whales are famous for singing long, com­plex songs. These songs are dis­tinct­ly dif­fer­ent with­in each breed­ing stock, yet some of them seem to share their songs with oth­er groups. Some songs can last up to 30 minutes! 

(Main image tak­en at the Head of the Bight. Image cour­tesy of F Chris­tiansen, Mur­doch Uni­ver­si­ty Cetacean Research Unit.)

This sto­ry was orig­i­nal­ly post­ed in April 2022 and has been updat­ed with fur­ther information.