Below is a basic overview covering the past 16 years. Click each year's page for a more detailed sightings network. Visit the official Migaloo twitter page for more up-to-date sightings information: @Migaloo1
You can use this information to plan your whale watching adventure and hopefully this helps a Migaloo sighting to be ticked off your bucket list.
Migaloo sightings past Cape Byron as he heads north have been:
21st June 2004
13th June 2005
23rd June 2014
25th July 2016
11th July 2017
Migaloo sightings past Cape Byron heading South have been:
30th September 2007
28th September 2009
17th September 2017
Migaloo sightings in the Cairns & Port Douglas area have been:
July 16th 2006
July 25th 2007
Aug 14th 2009
July 21st 2010 (Port Douglas)
25th July 2012
7th August 2013
7th August 2017
3rd July 2020
So if you are set on sighting Migaloo, consider taking a holiday on the Gold Coast or Byron Bay between mid June to early July as he heads North and goes past Cape Byron and along the NSW North Coast and the Tweed Coast under the shadow of Mt Warning and on into Queensland waters and the Gold Coast.
Consider Cairns or Port Douglas between Mid July to Mid August as he cruises the pristine waters of the Great Barrier Reef and the Coral Sea Islands just of the coast and easily accessible by the many daily reef charter boats departing daily from Cairns or Port Douglas.
Consider Byron Bay late September and then Sydney late September early October.
He can travel/cruise between 10-14 km/h and covers a vast distance in a short time as he sings his love song in search of a new girlfriend up and down the Australian East Coast.
Also note Migaloo can be sighted anywhere in between Port Douglas Far North Queensland or Eden on the far Southern New South Wales Coast.
Migaloo can be identified from has scarring on his back and from his tail as each humpback has a unique sequence of individual bumps and grooves that are different on every whale, much like the fingerprints on a human are different from each other.