Monthly Archives: January 2012

Spy hops, Breaches, Lunges…and Dolphins!

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Aloha,
Tuesday’s whale watchers saw a wide variety of action. The highest rate of sightings and activity was logged on our 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales cruise, where our naturalist Ryan reported seeing a “plethora” of whales — 20 to 25 different Humpbacks. Guests aboard that cruise witnessed breaches, head lunges, and even some spy hops. At 10:00, our whale watchers saw 3 different whales, 2 breaches and even some of the Humpback’s smaller cousins, the Spinner Dolphins. When the Captain deployed the hydrophone on that trip, the guests heard some very loud vocalizations. By 3:00, the wind had come up, but our Captain aboard the Whales & Cocktails trip did report that guests saw a Humpback spouting.
Join Ocean Sports on any of our 3 daily Whale Watch Cruises departing from 2 different locations within the Hawaii Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary Waters. Call us at 886-6666 ext. 103 or visit hawaiioceansports.com to reserve your adventure today.
Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: Spy hopping is one of the ways a Humpback can see what’s going on above the surface of the water. Because Humpbacks have really big heads proportionally, their eyes are about a third of the way down their bodies. When the whale spy hops, she rises slowly and vertically from the water, head first. If she’s a fully grown whale, her rostrum may be 15 feet above the surface before her eyes get there!
Mahalo,
Captain Claire

Lots of Whale Songs, and a bit of Competition

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Aloha,
Guests on all three of our Whale Watch cruises from both locations reported good sightings on Tuesday. Both the 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales departing from Abay, and the 10:00 Whale Watch departing from Kawaihae reported seeing 4 different whales (with the folks on the 8:00 Whale Watch reporting some dolphins accompanying the boat for awhile too)..but the highlight of each of those trips happened when the hydrophone was deployed. Both trips reported LOUD singing, and the guests aboard the 10:00 Whale Watch were able to hear 3 different whales singing. At 3:00, guests aboard our Whales & Cocktails trip not only heard a lot of singing, but also watched 8 different whales. At one point, one of the whales swam directly beneath the stern of the boat! And there seemed to be a bit of competition going on at 3:00 with some tail lobs and pectoral slaps too.
Ocean Sports provides 3 opportunities daily to see the whales, and we depart from two different locations within the Hawaii Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary Waters. Please call us at 886-6666 ext 103 or visit hawaiioceansports.com for more information.
Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: When we say we heard LOUD singing yesterday, just how loud do we mean? Well, Humpback Whales have been recorded producing sounds at around 185 decibels. Because the decibel scales use different references for sounds underwater than thru the air, that’s the equivalent of about 123 decibels for us on the surface..which is as loud as the amplified music at a rock concert when you’re standing directly in front of a tower of speakers!
Mahalo,
Captain Claire

Big Wings

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Aloha!
Well, our 2011 Whale Watching ended with a bang…topped only by the first sightings we had for 2012! On Friday, guests aboard Alala’s 10:00 Whale Watch saw 8 different whales, including a competitive pod of three whales, 5 breaches and 3 head lunges. Seasmoke’s guests saw 10 whales and 2 breaches in the morning, and 6 whales with 2 close encounters, and one breach reported on the afternoon cruise. When the Captain deployed the hydrophone, guests were able to hear some very LOUD singing which means there was at least one male whale fairly close by.
Saturday’s and Sunday’s trips brought more of the same. Excellent sightings were reported from all boats departing from both Abay and Kawaihae. At one point on our Saturday 10:00 Whale Watch on Alala, the boat was joined by a pod of 100-200 Spinner Dolphins who seemed very excited to play with us. Guests saw 9 different whales on that trip multiple times, and one BIG head lunge. Seasmoke’s Whales & Cocktails Cruise on Sunday was accompanied by a competitive pod. Guests saw 8 different whales multiple times and 4 Pectoral Slaps (this term describes a whale lifting his 15 foot long “arm” and using it to slap the surface of the water –or another whale).
Join Ocean Sports on any of our 3 daily Whale Watch Cruises departing from 2 locations within the Hawaii Islands Humpback Whale National Marine 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: Humpback Whales have the longest Pectoral Fins (arms) of any of the great whales. They’re so distinctive that the Latin Genus name for the Humpback actually describes those fins…The Genus and Species names are “Megaptera Novaengliae” meaning “Big-Winged New Englander” and pronounced “MAY-ga-terra No-vee-ANG-li-ee.
Mahalo,
Captain Claire