Your guide to whale watching this winter

All along the Northern Beaches you’ll find fantastic whale watching vantage points and tours.

Whale migration is between May and November each year, with the best time to spot these gentle giants in the very middle of winter when whales are still heading north towards their breeding grounds.

There are over 40 species of whales that travel through Aussie waters each year, but if you're spotting from our headlands it'll most likely be a humpback or a southern right whale.

The Northern Beaches is part of the ‘Humpback Highway’, which is the nickname of the whales’ migration route.

This year there will be over 35,000 humpback whales migrating from their Antarctic feeding grounds to the warmer waters off northern Queensland where they breed and give birth.

The migration path is named because of the volume of aquatic life all travelling in the same direction. It’s a long slow cruise for humpbacks who are capable of speeds up to 8km an hour. But typically migrating humpbacks average around 1.6km an hour.

Out at sea and on land, you’ll get some great views from most of our headlands but particularly impressive ones are Manly’s North Head, the top of Long Reef headland and Barrenjoey Lighthouse. If you're checking out the surf this winter, make sure you're looking for whales too because chances are you'll get lucky with a sighting.

- Head out on a clear day

- Middle of winter is the peak season

- Look for the blow, particularly on still days when the plume can hang in the air

- On windy days whales tend to breach more often

- Look for a big splash, which probably means you just missed a whale breaching

- Keep an eye on deeper waters, you'll have a better chance of a whale breaching because they need depth of water to gain the momentum to get up and breach out of the water.