Whale Washes Ashore At Thirteenth
Surfers on the Bellarine Peninsula may want to give Thirteenth Beach a wide berth in the coming days.
Overnight a dead humpback whale washed ashore and is now decomposing in the shallows. Surf Lifesavng Victoria have closed the beach and advised of shark activity in the area.
There's been no word yet on how or when removal of the whale will take place.
All photos by Steve Arklay.
Comments
I am very sad to see a dead whale at my home break, just a few weeks after I am back from Noosa and Byron where I was seeing them jumping happy and playing like us when we catch waves.
I can't really see much of any shark bites on this dead whale not even on some drone shot from another local photographer. I wonder if anyone is curious to know the reason why the sharks didn't take any bites or even why the whale is dead. RIP wonderful sea creature.
They'll come in eventually if they can get to it on the higher tides.
If you look at the photo from last night on the local FB page with the two great whites circling - there is an arc of exposed fat on the underside. Looks a little like multiple bite marks to me!
No WAY am I paddling out at 13th for a while...unless its smoking....
Hopefully an old whale , that found a nice final resting place , 13th .
It's Friday the 13th .
How wide is a Wide Berth and guessing the width gets bigger , every day ?
Is it an optical illusion I am looking at in regards to the tail of the whale in the first photo. Looks like it has been cut perfectly not ragged with bite marks.
Yes, I’ve just been there.
There’s flowers on the walk way and a beautiful dedication from a child that has done a drawing in another location nearby celebrating/commemorating such a beautiful mammal.
However some moron has cut the tail. It’s just attached with a slight amount of skin… That sort of lack of respect is sickening !
I was thinking the same thing about the tail.
Can't for the life of me work out why someone would do that. Any witnesses?
If not, my theory is fishing gear entanglement that's cut through the tail.
Re the tail - no one is strong enough, or going to have a tool anywhere near sharp enough to cut through the tail that cleanly
If anything, it’s a clue as to how the whale died. If I were a betting man, I’d say a boat propellor hit it, severing the tail almost clean off. It would have drowned as a result
It was probably one of the the cargo boats heading into / out of the bay, which would explain why it floated so close to Barwon Bluff and was washed ashore
Re the tail - no one is strong enough, or going to have a tool anywhere near sharp enough to cut through the tail that cleanly
If anything, it’s a clue as to how the whale died. If I were a betting man, I’d say a boat propellor hit it, severing the tail almost clean off. It would have drowned as a result
It was probably one of the the cargo boats heading into / out of the bay, which would explain why it floated so close to Barwon Bluff and was washed ashore
Reports are the tail was sawn off and police have info on who did it. The whale is a Sei Whale not Humpback apparently.
A whale washed up a couple of years ago at Forest caves Phillip Island it was there for about 4 months
I don’t think you’ll be surfing on that beach for quite awhile
The sharks heading towards 13th can smell whale , in the water .
They are on a Whaling mission , B lining 4 a feed .
Humans don't smell like dead whale .
Can't bury the whale imho and probably can't tow it out 2 sea .
The smell on the beach , will keep some surfers away .
On a predawn grey-light mission at a local MP reef accessed by walking along a rocky beach I was amazed to see three young sharks (about 4' long) eating a dead seal right on the shoreline, I could hit all three with a cricket bat without getting my feet wet that is how close they were to beaching themselves. This reef is a known deep water shark locale with Pete (RIP) and a few of us out one day when a large creature swam through the lineup underwater at speed causing that sort of surface water displacement but obviously smaller you would reasonably associate with submarines. We all shat ourselves just totally.