Monthly Archives: February 2012

Lots of competition and a dinner of whale meat?!

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Aloha,
Wednesday’s Whale Watches began with a “Great Show” according to Captain Jeff Baker. Guests aboard our 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales cruise saw 20 whales and encountered a very active competitive pod of 6 whales. As usual, when we get to see a competitive pod, there’s lots of splashing, shoving, and jockeying for position among the whales as the males try to get close to the female. And since the whales are swimming hard, they’re on the surface breathing a lot too (just like when you run fast, your breathing rate increases). We even got to hear the “trumpeting” sound the whales make when they exhale forcefully, trying to catch their breath. On our 10:00 Whale Watch, we saw 12  different whales, 3 breaches and 3 tail lobs and then encountered a competitive pod in which we saw 4 body lunges, 5 head lunges and 2 pectoral slaps — exciting stuff. We also saw a couple of Cow/calf pods and heard some great sounds when we deployed our hydrophone.
Join Ocean Sports for an adventure on a Whale Watch you’ll never forget! Call us at 886-6666 ext. 103 or visit www.hawaiioceansports.com for reservations and information.
Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: In 1918, in effort to stockpile more beef, mutton and pork to send to the American troops fighting the 1st World War, the US government sponsored a luncheon at the American Museum of National History in New York featuring Humpback Whale meat. Several dignitaries were invited (including Admiral Peary) to feast on the menu created by the Head Chef of Delmonico’s, and were quoted saying the meat tasted like pot roast or venison. During the luncheon, the museum’s “reliable sources” reported that if all of the 7 operational whaling stations on the Pacific Coast began processing whale for food (instead of for fertilizer), more than 20 million pounds of whale meat could be distributed to the American public during the summer months alone at a cost of 12.5 cents/pound. The idea never really caught on with the American public though.
Mahalo,
Captain Claire

Humpback competition and Humpback Love

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Aloha,
Our Valentine’s Day Whale sightings were all about whale love (some love between adults, but a lot of love between Mom and Baby). On our 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales, we saw about 20 different whales, but got to witness a competitive pod of males trying to interact with a female. We saw lots of tail lobs, and 3 breaches right outside of the Bay. On our 10:00 Whale Watch from Kawaihae, we saw 6 Humpbacks, but spent most of our time watching a very protective Mother and her baby. We were very quiet, so we wouldn’t disturb them, and Mom and Baby were surfacing just to breathe — it might have been nap time for that little guy! We did deploy our hydrophone on the trip, and the songs we heard were really loud (which indicates there were some submerged adult males fairly close by). On our 3:00 Whales and Cocktails cruise, we witnessed another competitive pod — this one had 4 males chasing after Mom and her baby. We got to see the typical Humpback bullying behavior — lots of shoving and splashing. At one point, the calf started lagging behind a little (just too tired from all that swimming) – and Mom kept veering off to keep herself between the males and her calf.
Feel the excitement of a Humpback Whale Watch on any of the Ocean Sports 3 daily Whale Watch Cruises. Call 886-6666 ext. 103 or visit www.hawaiioceansports.com to reserve your adventure today.
Humpback Whale Fact of the Day:  A humpback whale’s trachea and esophagus are totally separate tubes (unlike ours which meet up in the back of our mouths). We have an epiglottis which protects our lungs from accidental inspiration of food or liquid – Humpbacks don’t need one…but that also means that a Humpback can only breathe thru her blowholes and not thru her mouth.
Aloha,
Captain Claire

Humpback Hearts and Crazy Baby Whales

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Aloha and Happy Valentine’s Day!
Monday was quite a day for our little Humpback Whale Calves. On our 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales cruise, we saw a baby attempt 15 breaches in a row…by the end, he was quite the tired little fellow and could only get about half way out of the water. Mom and the Escort each breached too (maybe trying to show him the proper form…or maybe they were just getting a little irritated by all the commotion). We saw about 20 different whales on that trip, and had one nice fluke dive very close to the boat, so all of us got to see the pattern on the whale’s tail. On our 10:00 Whale Watch cruise, we saw 12 different whales, and watched a calf breach 22 times! We also saw 4 spy hops, 3 tail lobs, 2 body lunges, 3 head lunges, and one competitive pod of 4 whales. By the time our 3:00 Whales & Cocktails trip rolled around, everyone seemed to quiet down. We saw 4 whales, and spent most of our time watching a Cow/Calf/Escort pod who were swimming quietly and surfacing just to breathe.
Join Ocean Sports for a Whale Watching Adventure. We offer 3 trips daily departing from two different locations within the Hawaii Islands Humpback Whale Natural Marine Sanctuary Waters so we don’t have to travel far to see the whales! Call us at 886-6666 ext. 103, or visit www.hawaiioceansports.com to reserve your spot today.
Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: A Humpback Whale has a big heart. An 80,000 pound whale’s heart averages just over 400 pounds, and according to research reported by the Nelson Institute of Marine Research,  beats an average of somewhere between 10 and 30 beats per minute.
Aloha,
Captain Claire

Lots of Muggings, Dolphins, and Barnacles

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Aloha,
There’s a lot to report from our weekend’s worth of whale watching. Beginning with Friday, both our 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales and 3:00 Whales & Cocktails cruises report seeing 6 whales with a few breaches — we think the whales had moved up towards Kawaihae that day, since our 10:00 Whale Watch reports seeing 17 whales, 3 breaches, 4 cow/calf pods (1 accompanied by an escort), 3 breaches and a HUGE pod of Spinner Dolphins. Jonathan, our naturalist estimates there were more than 200 animals in that pod. On Saturday, the whales seemed to be moving back down the coastline again. The 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales cruise, and the 3:00 Whales & Cocktails cruise both report seeing close to 25 different whales. The highlight of the first trip was watching a very small calf attempting to check out our boat, and the highlight of the last trip of the day was watching a very active competitive pod on the surface right near the boat for more than 30 minutes. On our 10:00 Whale Watch, our naturalist Nick reports that guests saw 20 different whales, mostly in pods of 2’s or 3’s. We also had a close encounter with a very small baby whale…but the most interesting part of the trip had to be when we encountered a pod of about 15 Rough Tooth Dolphins interacting with a couple of adult whales. Nick reports that the whales appeared to be irritated by the dolphins, because it looked like the whales were trying to slap their smaller cousins away! On Sunday, patience paid off for guests on our 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales, as towards the end of the trip, we encountered a very active pod of two whales who slapped the water with their pectoral fins, made several peduncle throws, and lots of tail lobs all about 100 yards from the boat! And on our 3:00 Whales & Cocktails, we saw 18 whales, and were mugged by a curious baby (who was accompanied by his fairly permissive Mom and an escort). We saw breaches (7), peduncle throws (4), pectoral slaps (4), tail lobs (2) and 8 peduncle throws.
Don’t miss out on all the Humpback Action. Call Ocean Sports at 886-6666 ext. 103 or visit www.hawaiioceansports to reserve your adventure today.
Humpback Whale Fact of the Day:  Humpback Whales play host to all kinds of other animals. Besides the barnacles we often see on the Humpbacks’ flukes and other skin surfaces, the whales can also carry tape worms, lung worms, sinus flukes, and whale lice (which are related to skeleton shrimp) among others. Not all of these parasites actually harm the whale (which means that technically, they can’t really all be considered “parasites”). In fact, the barnacles might actually benefit the male Humpbacks who appear to use the sharp edges of the shells (perhaps inadvertently) as weapons during competitive battles.
Aloha,
Captain Claire

Not just seeing, but HEARING a breach!

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Aloha,
We were happy to be back on the water on Thursday, and we think the whales were happy to see us too! On our 10:00 Whale Watch from Kawaihae, we saw 15 whales and 5 breaches. One of those breaches was actually a double breach — Mom and baby coming out of the water at the same time. We also saw two other Cow/Calf pods, but the highlight of this trip was definitely the singing. At one point, the singing whale was so close that we were able to hear him in the cabin without the hydrophone! Of course when we did deploy the hydrophone the singing was very LOUD and very clear. On our 3:00 Whales and Cocktails cruise from Anaeho’omalu, we saw a breach right outside the bay — we had the hydrophone in the water at that point so not only did we get to see it, we got to hear what the whales must hear when one of their buddies lands — it was really incredible. We were also quite the object of curiosity for a calf — the cute little guy kept trying to approach us, but Mom did her job and kept pushing him away. Angelica, our naturalist aboard that trip reports that they saw so many whales in every direction she couldn’t even keep count of them.
Join Ocean Sports on a Whale Watch and see so many whales you can’t keep track of them all! Call us at 886-6666 ext. 103 or visit www.hawaiioceansports.com to reserve your adventure today.
Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: According to research reported by the Keiki Kohola project, very young calves (identified by the extent to which their fins are still furled from their time in utero) are much more active than older calves, swimming and twirling and kicking. These researchers theorize that all that exercise leads to the production of a necessary oxygen storing protein called “myoglobin” (pronounced “my-oh-globe-in) in the whales’ muscles. One of the reasons adult humpbacks can hold their breath for 45 minutes is that they can store so much oxygen in their muscles, and baby is training to be able to do that too.
Have a great weekend…I’ll be sending the next report on Monday,
Captain Claire

Modern Day Jonah? — Nah, just a good story

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Aloha,
Wednesday’s passing weather front didn’t pass quickly enough for us to operate any of our cruises, so we don’t have any statistics to report. Watching the ocean from the highway though, I did notice a LOT of splashing from whales up and down the coast. It’s not unusual for us to see lots of surface activity when it’s windy. We’re not sure if the whales get excited by all the energy generated by the wind waves at the surface or if it’s just more difficult for them to breathe when it gets choppy, but we have seen this pattern before. Anyway, since we have no numbers to report, here’s an interesting story instead.
In  the 1890’s, a whaler with very pale and mottled skin named James Bartley claimed that he had been swallowed by a Sperm Whale. He had been pursuing the whale off the coast of the Falkland Islands, when he was thrown from his boat and presumed lost at sea. Two days later, shipmates on The Star of the East, killed a Sperm whale, and lo and behold — found Bartley in the whale’s stomach!  Supposedly, Bartley was a “raving lunatic” for several weeks, but then recovered enough to remember the experience — enough that he was able to make a modest living travelling with an exhibit of a stuffed Sperm Whale – he claimed his skin was permanently damaged from the whales gastric juices. The story of the modern day Jonah was very popular in religious tracts and broadcasts, but has since been debunked. Not only was the Star of the East not a whaling boat, but there was no record of a James Bartley even working on the ship. Even James’ wife claimed the story was “a good yarn”.
Mahalo,
Captain Claire

Humpbacks show Interest

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Please disregard the previous email — I’m having a problem with my internet connection. Here’s the complete report!
Aloha,

It sure was a windy day on Tuesday — so windy in fact that the only cruise we were able to run was our 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales. Guests who woke up early enough to join us were well rewarded though, since the Humpback sightings began as soon as we exited the Bay! We began our cruise watching 2 big adults who decided they wanted to watch us too, and swam pretty close to our boat. After seeing them, we encountered a Cow/Calf pod, who also seemed pretty interested in us. Throughout the cruise we saw 7 breaches within about 400 yards, and all told we saw 15 different Humpbacks.

 

Even if you can’t wake up early enough to join us on the Breakfast with the Whales, we run Whale Watches at 10:00 and 3:00 — call us at 886-6666 ext 103 or visit www.hawaiioceansports.com for details and reservations.

 

Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: Yesterday, I mentioned that researchers taking DNA samples from the whales take dime-size plugs of skin. Researcher Chris Gabriele was quick to point out that the skin and blubber plug is actually the size of a pencil eraser and is obtained by using a dart tip on the end of an arrow propelled by an air-rifle or crossbow. Tissue samples are used to ascertain a wide variety of information including sex, age, hormone levels, dietary composition, stress levels, contaminant levels, and the presence of viral or bacterial diseases among other things. Mahalo for the information Chris! We rely on researchers like her to keep us up-to-date!

Mahalo,
Captain Claire

Oh, those entertaining Humpback Calves!

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Aloha,
Monday brought us some very interesting sightings. On our 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales cruise, our naturalist Angelica reported there were whales everywhere — as far as the eye could see! We began the Whale Watch with sightings of a Cow/Calf right outside of the Bay. We watched Mom hold her baby on her rostrum (her head) for awhile before we were distracted by a breaching whale a little further out. So we left Mom and Baby and approached the breacher — he (or she) performed 6 more breaches and about 5 tail lobs. In total we saw about 30 different whales on this trip and if we count the breaches in the distance, about 20 breaches! On our 10:00 Whale Watch from Kawaihae, we saw 8 whales and 1 breach. We also spent some time on this trip watching a Cow/Calf pod (it’s so fun and so interesting to watch the interaction between baby and Momma), and when we deployed our hydrophone we heard some nice clear singing.
Join Ocean Sports on a Whale Watch during the height of the Whale Season in Hawaii. 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, and actually all Cetaceans, have a highly developed sense of touch. We know this because they have a lot of nerve endings right beneath their skin, and there’s a lot of blood flow to the nerve endings. Plus they touch each other a lot. Also, when researchers take dime-size plugs of skin from whales to study their DNA (and when you consider the size of the whale, it’s a pretty insignificant amount of skin), they report seeing the whales flinch..
Mahalo,
Captain Claire

A real Cutie, Breaches, Songs and Pec Slaps

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Aloha,
Our Friday Whale Watch sightings seemed to mirror the calm seas we experienced. On our 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales, we saw 26 different whales — all adults, and almost all of them were swimming slowly, surfacing and taking a few breaths and then showing us their flukes as they began their deeper dives. We did deploy our hydrophone, and it seemed to us that the whales we were listening to were VERY close to the boat. On our 10:00 Whale Watch, we saw 14 whales including 2 Cow/Calf pods. We saw 6 breaches on the horizon and had three close encounters. We also were mugged twice and got to see a very young gray calf as he swam right under our stern, and rolled over onto his back. Like all babies, this guy was a real cutie. The songs we heard on this whale watch were coming in loud and clear too! On Saturday, our 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales trip reports seeing 15 whales, with a few breaches — but the most exciting thing that happened on that trip was a whale repeatedly slapping his pectoral fin on the surface of the water about 20 feet from the boat! On Sunday, our 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales cruise reports seeing 35 whales including 3 pods of Cow/Calf/Escorts and a big Competitive Pod performing the usual aggressive surface behaviors. Guests aboard this trip really loved seeing the baby whales though. And at 10:00, our Whale Watch from Kawaihae reports seeing 13 whales — mostly just spouting and sounding. But towards the end of the trip, while everyone was looking towards the front of the boat, a Humpback breached about 100 yards from us! Captain Will said the breach “came out of the blue” (which in this case is both a literal and a figurative description). We’ve noticed over the years that it’s a rare occasion when everyone on the boat is looking the right way to see the breach — what a great end to our Weekend Whale Watches!
Don’t miss the whale watch action in February…Ocean Sports offers 3 different trips daily, departing from two different 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 “height-of-the-season” adventure today.
Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: Traditionally, the Hawaiian people did not hunt whales. It may be because they didn’t like the taste of the meat, or it may be because the spirit of the whale was so powerful…But if a toothed whale did end up on a beach (whether it died at sea and was blown ashore, or actually beached itself), only the ali’i (royalty) were allowed to possess any part of the whale. Carvings made from a whale’s tooth called “Niho Palaoa” brought mana (roughly defined as a ” spiritual force”) to the both the carver and the wearer of the pendant.

Entertained by Hawaii’s Dolphins + Breaches and Babies

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Aloha,
All of our Whale Watches on Thursday had one thing in common — very loud singing! On our 10:00 Whale Watch from Kawaihae, guests saw 8 different whales, 3 Cow/Calf pairs and 4 close encounters. Our naturalist aboard that trip, Jonathan, said that the water was so clear that when the whales swam right by the side of the boat, everyone could make out all the details on the whales’ bodies. And of course, when the hydrophone was deployed, we were amazed by the sounds we were hearing. On our 3:00 Whales & Cocktails, we saw 15 whales and two breaches. Our hydrophone was a hit on that trip too, broadcasting a wide variety of sounds. And though we weren’t on an “official” whale watch from 9:30-12:30, guests aboard Seasmoke saw 12 different whales, 9 breaches, 4 peduncle throws, one very small calf accompanied by his mother and an escort…and a pod of approximately 200 Spinner Dolphins! The dolphins put on quite a show as they cruised north past Anaeho’omalu Bay. We saw lots of end-over-end spins, and lots of vertical spins. The dolphins even came right up to our bow, and rode our bow wake for a few minutes.
Join Ocean Sports on a Whale Watch, a Snorkel Sail or a Sunset Sail. 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 don’t sleep as soundly as we do — if they did, researchers believe that they’d drown. Humans breathe in response to carbon dioxide build-up in our blood, but Humpbacks and other marine mammals have to keep part of their brain awake at all times so they remember to breathe. When a Humpback sleeps, he floats just under the surface of the ocean, and comes up to breathe every couple of minutes. We call this behavior “logging’ as the whale looks a lot like a floating log.
Have a Wonderful Weekend,
Captain Claire