Portland resident and fisherman Bob McPherson's morning trip on Good Friday had two surprise guests.
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While heading out on his Blue Eye fishing spot around 38 miles from shore, Mr McPherson and his friends Michael Goldby and Rob Melcom spotted two Blue Whales.
"We were heading out to the continental shelf at about 8am when we saw them," Mr McPherson said. "I've seen heaps of them but they've been rare for years and not many people have seen them lately.
"There's heaps of krill around the spot we saw them and last year we saw them same in the exact same place."
Mr McPherson said the Blue Whales were feeding when he spotted them and they were only bobbing up to the surface briefly for air.
"They were going under for around 11 minutes," he said.
"Most people who have never seen them before are shocked when they see them; they're about two buses long."
Department of Environment Land Water and Planning natural environment program officer Mandy Watson said it was getting towards the end of Blue Whale season.
"Blue Whales are normally here over the summer period as they come to feed in the Bonney Upwelling," she said. "Southern Right Whales come for the winter period to calve and they should start arriving some time in April and May and they stay until October."
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