While out on the water, she managed to observe an unusual feeding frenzy that involved not only humpback whales, but also cape fur seals.
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The humpbacks Mr Malcolm had been watching were in the middle of a feeding frenzy, picking off fish that they had forced into a tight “bait ball”.
Stevie, the surfing seal, stunned onlookers when he appeared riding the waves on top of a passing whale.
New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife whale expert Geoff Ross told the paper the coupling was very rare but he had heard of it happening once before.
When a pod of whales were going to town on a fresh batch of fish, one seal gave absolutely zero fucks about his/her safety and went for a cheeky hitch-hike on the back of one whale.
In a separate interview, Ross told The Sydney Morning Herald, “That’s the first time I’ve seen that happen in NSW waters”.
Ms Malcolm said this was not the only interesting interaction she had with whales recently.
“They look they are bubble feeding, a very unique behaviour”.
“Last Saturday we were ‘mugged” by the biggest group of humpbacks I have ever seen, who were happy to play with us for a while’.
He dismissed suggestions that the image was fake, claiming that he doesn’t know how to use Photoshop.
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September and October are peak season for whale watching in Eden, when humpbacks stop to feed on their way back to Antarctica.
