{"id":484632,"date":"2026-03-19T20:47:16","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T20:47:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/484632\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T20:47:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T20:47:16","slug":"whales-perform-for-spectators-off-south-shore-the-royal-gazette","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/484632\/","title":{"rendered":"Whales perform for spectators off South Shore &#8211; The Royal Gazette"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Created: Mar 19, 2026 07:57 AM (Updated: Mar 19, 2026 08:06 AM)<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1773953235_620_.jpeg\" uuid=\"1dd3c8c4-dc34-523f-875d-320ed3a82779\"\/><\/p>\n<p>A humpback whale leaps from the water off the coast of the island (Photograph by Michael Simmons)<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__body\">Pods of visiting humpback whales put on a show for whale-watchers, and there to capture the display was photographer Michael Simmons.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__body\">The snapper said he caught a series of pictures during an expedition on board the Endurance on Saturday afternoon when the massive animals leapt from waters to the island\u2019s south.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__body\">Mr Simmons said: \u201cI am somewhat used to seeing the whales, but not that close. I was totally excited inside and trying to focus on getting a couple of shots.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__body\">\u201cIt was a little rough out there. We were rolling about so it was difficult to get shots.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__body\">\u201cI\u2019m a little surprised that we got the shots we did because I was timing the shots with the rolling of the boat.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1773953235_509_.jpeg\" uuid=\"a1eabe98-c8c0-55b4-964c-49c8456cdeea\"\/><\/p>\n<p>A humpback whale leaps from the water off the coast of the island (Photograph by Michael Simmons)<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__body\">Mr Simmons said the group saw several small pods of humpback whales during the trip.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__body\">He noted: \u201cWe were seeing them when they were pretty active. They were active for about an hour.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__body\">March and April are usually busy months for whale-watchers as humpbacks migrate north from the Caribbean to feed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__body\">Mariners interested in taking a closer look at the massive animals are urged to use caution, with guidelines available online at <a href=\"https:\/\/environment.bm\/whale-watching-guidelines\" id=\"link-5b6f2049ff0be28d617a5d377d660b5c\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">environment.bm\/whale-watching-guidelines<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1773953236_846_.jpeg\" uuid=\"ed6ae901-84d9-5c79-97fd-fb115397464c\"\/><\/p>\n<p>A humpback whale splashes the water off the coast of the island (Photograph by Michael Simmons)<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__body\">Under the Protected Species Act 2003, it is an offence to disturb or harass humpback and sperm whales, and boats are instructed to stay at least 100 metres away from whales and 50 metres from dolphins.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__body\">Whale-watchers should aim to travel parallel to the animals and never touch or swim with them.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__body\">The Act states that anyone convicted of harming, disturbing or harassing a humpback or sperm whale can face a maximum fine of $25,000 or up to two years in prison.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1773953236_532_.jpeg\" uuid=\"62d0fcb5-72ac-5698-bbcf-03380209950c\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Whale images taken on board the Endurance on March 14 (Photograph by Michael Simmons)<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1773953236_105_.jpeg\" uuid=\"e057912d-6e77-506c-b041-9e14cab11583\"\/><\/p>\n<p>A humpback whale leaps from the water off the coast of the island (Photograph by Michael Simmons)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Created: Mar 19, 2026 07:57 AM (Updated: Mar 19, 2026 08:06 AM) A humpback whale leaps from the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":484633,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[2851,14680,6487,90,8865,56,54,55,172029,4407],"class_list":["post-484632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-animals","tag-oceans","tag-photography","tag-science","tag-spotlight","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-waterway-and-maritime-transport","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=484632"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484632\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/484633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=484632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=484632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=484632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}