Hervey Bay Whale Watch - Quick Cat history

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History of Whale Watching

In The Beginning
Back in the mid 1980's Hervey Bay had the reputation of being a sleepy little fishing village where your everyday working family came to spend their holidays. With a population of just over ten thousand and a foreshore some fifteen kilometres long the town had a very casual and relaxed atmosphere.

Come holiday time, the twenty or so caravan parks that had given the Bay the title of the "Caravan Park Capital of Australia" would swell to overflowing as hundreds of holiday makers would make their annual pilgrimage to Queenslands best kept secret.

It was this same reason that brought Brian and Jill Perry with their three-month-old daughter Sarah to the Bay in December 1986 escaping from the rat race and weather from the south coast of New South Wales.

Brian and Jill bought the original Tasman Venture charter-fishing vessel, a business that was pretty run down, but seemed like a good challenge and a lot more relaxed life style than they were used to.

Whales in the Bay
Brian and Jill had no idea when they bought the business that whales came into the Bay, even though it was common knowledge among fishermen and established charter boat operators working out of the Bay.
Over the next 6 to 7 months Brian and Jill built up the business to a point where the boat was going fishing nearly every day and night and becoming very popular.

25th August 1987
Trying to fish the area known as Rooneys at the top of Fraser Island in a 25-knot southeaster was becoming very uncomfortable so Brian decided to head for calmer waters around Wathumba creek in the lea of Fraser Island. As the Tasman pulled up a mile or so off the creek what was thought to be a large log was noticed drifting a few hundred metres away. Then another log was noticed in another direction but this one seemed to be moving. Taking the Tasman in for a closer look it was soon realised that these were not logs but whales around the same length as the 12 metre Tasman Venture. While not sure what type of whales they were Brian could sense that the whales were very approachable and even seemed interested in the boat. The other thing he noticed was that all of his 12 passengers and the other crew-members all seemed awestruck at what they were experiencing. Even after spending an hour with these creatures and then steaming away the feeling on the boat was something that Brian had never felt before.

Don't Be Silly
All the way home Brian had this feeling that people may be interested in seeing these whales. Arriving home he told his wife, Jill about the experience and the idea about a "whale watch trip". "Don't be silly" was the prompt reply "who would want to see whales"? Sticking to his guns Brian asked to have an add put in the local paper. Even the paper tried to talk them out of it but agreed to put a piece in the paper reporting that whales had been seen and if anyone was interested to contact the Perrys.

27th August 1987
The phone rang around 6am, someone had read the small piece in the paper and wanted to see the whales. 6.05am someone else wants to see them. The phone just kept ringing. By 8am Jill had filled the 32 seats on the boat for a whale watch trip on Tuesday the 1st September 1987.

1st September 1987 7.30am
Forecast 20/25-knot southeaster. Seas to 1. 5 metres, not nice to start a new venture.
As the passengers arrived and boarded the vessel, Brian who also flies aircraft decided to use a mates plane to go and try to spot the whales from the air and had designed a way to signal Don, the skipper. All on board were warned that it was going to be rough and given the option of getting off, no one did. They were also told that if we couldn't find the whales they would get a free trip, a guarantee that still stands today.

The First Sighting
After spending nearly an hour flying over the bay trying to spot a whale in seas that were breaking was a lot harder than first thought and hopes were fading fast. Then fellow pilot John Peaker who was with Brian saw something. They circled but nothing, then a splash. Yes it was a whale so they were still here, now to signal the boat. Because they had no radio communications between the boat and plane Brian was hoping that his signal method would work.

The Signal That Everyone On Board Was Waiting For
With eyes glued to the overcast sky Don, Jill and all their passengers were waiting for that drone of an aircraft engine. If the plane circled the boat 3 times, they had found whales, 2 times and flies in the direction of the town no whales and go home. As Brian approached the boat he could see everyone looking up but no one moving. He started to circle the boat only a few hundred feet above . Once, twice, three times. Now to head the Tasman in the right direction. Break out the toilet rolls. The plane was to fly towards the whales and drop one toilet roll for each two miles to the whales. It looked around six miles in a northwesterly direction so off the plane went dropping three toilet rolls in a line. The Tasman turned and started heading for the area where the whales were last seen. Hey, this might work, the two pilots yelled to each other.

Hervey Bay Whale Watch Is Born
Brian flew back to the area where he found the whale and waited for the Tasman but couldn't find the whales. They kept looking while they kept an eye on the Tasman which was only about a mile away by now, then the boat stopped dead in the water. Flying back to the boat thinking the worst, Brian and John started circling the vessel again, then it happened. They could see a large black mass under the boat and coming to the surface and there was another on the other side of the boat. Two whales surfaced within a couple of metres of the Tasman and started swimming around the boat. Brian could see Don wiping his brow and Jill jumping up and down for joy as the whales swam around and under the boat.
Not so silly now, hey.

Tell the World
With little fuel Brian gave the Tasman a wing wave and let fly with a few more toilet rolls just to celebrate and flew back to the Bay to tell the world they had done it. The media met the boat and interviewed the passengers.
One lady that was interviewed was seen all over the world saying,
"I've been to Alaska and seen the animals of Africa, now I've been to Hervey Bay and seen the whales and that was the one that topped it off. I've seen everything now."

The 1st Season Till Now
Around 3500 people saw the whales in the first season. The Perrys ran 2 vessels each year till 1998.
They were; 1987 Tasman Venture, Islander; 1988 Tasman Venture, Starship Genesis; 1989 Whale One, Peel Islander; 1990-93 Whale One, Moby Dundee; 1994-97 Hombre, Reality.
Brian and Jill now just run one vessel on half-day trips, the Quick Cat.
There are now 13 vessels running whale watching in Hervey Bay which become a marine park in 1990 under a permit system through the National Parks and Wildlife.
Last season saw nearly 80,000 people go out on the Bay to see the whales and this year could see up to 100,000 Hervey Bay Whale Watchers.

Who Said It Was A Silly Idea!

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