Aloha,

Once again, we spent a windy morning on the water on Monday, but the guests aboard our 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales Cruise on Seasmoke were treated to sightings of 12 different whales. They got to see 7 peduncle throws (that’s when the whale throw the back half of his or her body completely out of the water). And if that wasn’t already exciting enough, they also got to witness a complete breach about 130 yards from the boat! Guests on our 10:00 Whale Watch on Alala out of Kawaihae also had some action, with 3 different Humpback sightings.

Ocean Sports offers 3 different cruises to see the Humpbacks daily from two different locations within the Hawaiian Islands National Marine Humpback Whale Sanctuary Waters. Call us at 886-6666 ext 103 or visit www.hawaiioceansports.com to reserve your adventure today.

Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: Why would a whale waste the energy to throw the back half of his or her body out of the water in a Peduncle Throw (sometimes repetitively)?? Since the whales aren’t telling, all we can do is try to interpret their behavior in terms of what else is going on in their lives at that moment. We know that Humpbacks very rarely eat while they’re in Hawaii, and since a Peduncle Throw is a huge expenditure of energy (if you don’t believe me, try it yourself next time you’re in the ocean), it’s got to be important to the whale. Throwing half of yourself out of the water results in a huge splash and might be a way to communicate location, health, excitement, aggression or irritation to near-by whales. Especially if the near-by whale happens to be so near that he gets landed upon!