It’s not every day your commute gets upstaged by a whale. On Wednesday morning, Sydney ferries came to a sudden stop and even the busiest commuters were all eyes on the water, as a whale decided to make Circular Quay its playground.
Instead of the usual rush, everyone got front-row seats to a giant marine visitor sightseeing its way past Luna Park, the Opera House, and Garden Island.
As one passenger, Sylvia Lawrence, told Sydney Morning Herald, confusion quickly turned to pure excitement: “A good excuse to be late for work and one of my more special commutes!”
Onboard an NSW Maritime boat, whale scientist Dr. Vanessa Pirotta was basically playing the role of marine paparazzi, keeping up with the surprise guest. The star of the show? A whale clearly on its way south after an epic migration, but hitting a quick detour for city sightseeing.
Dr. Pirotta described the whale “logging” at the surface (translation: just lazing around), looking like “a school bus just hanging at the surface flat”. Pretty fitting, given the morning commute vibes. And when it finally dove, it flashed a tail for onlookers.
“It’s hump day and a whale has rocked up in the middle of Circular Quay – it doesn’t get any better than this!” Pirotta said.
All I saw on my commute this morning was a man cutting his toe nails. I wish I was joking.
No one’s quite figured out why these migrating whales occasionally take the Sydney Harbour shortcut, but it means a city packed with hurried people gets to pause and gawk at one of nature’s greatest travelers. Dr. Pirotta says this whale has journeyed from places hit hard by climate change, from Antarctica to the tropics, and still pops in to say hi to Sydney-siders on their way to work.
Of course, not everyone’s relaxed about the visit. NSW Maritime was playing traffic cop, since a whale in one of the world’s busiest harbours is a recipe for both cuteness and chaos in equal measure.
“When a whale is in the harbour, they become not only a beautiful thing to see, but a navigational nightmare,” says Dr. Pirotta, who leads the citizen science project Wild Sydney Harbour.
After pausing in Double Bay, the whale made its way towards Nielsen Park — still completely unfazed by the city buzz or the occasional seaplane passing overhead.
I think this might be the thing to inspire me not to lock into my FYP during my commute and look up. I never know what I might see!
Lead image: X / Arrested Development
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