Monthly Archives: March 2012

Singing, Baby Pec Slaps, and Humphrey’s Story

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Aloha,

We had some great times on the water on Wednesday. Our 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales and our 3:00 Whales and Cocktails both departed from Anaeho’omalu on Manu Iwa. The whales seemed happy to see us as both trips report lots of sightings and too many surface activities to keep track of. When we deployed the hydrophone on each of those trips, we heard some very loud and clear singing and vocalizations. But it was on our 10:00 Whale Watch from Kawaihae that we saw a complete turn-around from the day before. On this trip we saw 14 whales, 4 breaches, 2 pec slaps and one double pec slap from a calf (we love to see calves attempt this maneuver — they look so uncoordinated and cute while lying on their backs, flipping their pectoral fins around). We saw 2 pods of Cow/Calf/Escorts and one competitive pod consisting of 2 males and a female (at least that’s what our naturalist Jonathan was able to infer, based on the whales’ behaviors). We had one close encounter, and one mugging on that trip, and we deployed the hydrophone twice. The first time, we heard lots of whales, but the second time the sounds were incredibly resonant which means our singing whale was pretty close by.

 

Join Ocean Sports for a Whale Watch Adventure. Call us at 886-6666 ext. 103 or visit www.hawaiioceansports.com to reserve your spot today.

 

Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: Yesterday, I promised to tell you the rest of the Humphrey the Humpback Whale story. After successfully luring Humphrey to the ocean in 1985, researchers were a little surprised to see him back in San Francisco Bay again in 1990. This time, he got stuck on a mud flat south of Candlestick Park. Rescuers from the Marine Mammal Center  and the US Coast Guard used a cargo net and a boat to free him. Then, he was guided out of the Bay to the ocean by a flotilla of boats behind him full of people banging on steel pipes (a Japanese fishing technique called “oikomi”). At the same time, those same attractive sounds of Humpbacks feeding that lured Humphrey out to sea in 1985 were broadcast from boats in front of Humphrey. It worked. Since then, Humphrey’s story has been memorialized in a number of children’s books, a movie and he even has a Facebook page!

 

Mahalo,

Captain Claire

Whales watching us in the Wind

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Aloha,,

Tuesday brought us some more windy conditions, but also some nice whale sightings. On our 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales, our naturalist Meagan reports seeing 4 whales, and a couple of peduncle throws. We watched two pretty small whales travelling together for quite awhile on that trip. On our 10:00 Whale Watch, we again fought the wind and only saw one whale. Since Ocean Sports guarantees whale watching (not just “spottings”) on our morning whale watches, Captain Shane called the trip “a fluke” and invited everyone aboard to join us again on another whale watch for FREE. On our 3:00 Whales & Cocktails cruise, we saw 4 different Humpbacks, but we spent an hour and 20 minutes accompanied by a lone whale. The whale was travelling North for the first hour, paralleling our boat until s/he decided to surface,and make a u-turn, swimming directly under us. We all thought that this was the last we’d see of this whale, but s/he decided to do it again, mugging us once more before continuing the journey North.

 

Join Ocean Sports for a Guaranteed Whale Watch. See Humpbacks on our morning Whale Watch Cruises, or you can ride again with us another whale watch for FREE! Call us at 886-6666 ext. 103 or visit www.hawaiioceansports.com to reserve your adventure today.

 

Humpback Whale Fact of the Day:  In 1985, a Humpback whale nicknamed “Humphrey” swam into San Francisco Bay and then up the Sacramento River towards Rio Vista, Ca. After a couple of weeks in fresh water, Humphrey started showing signs of physical stress, turning grey and listless. Researchers and scientists were at a loss on how to help him back to the Pacific Ocean, until an acoustician offered the recordings he had made of humpback whales feeding as a way to lure Humphrey down the river to the ocean. It worked — Humphrey followed a ship broadcasting the sounds down the river and as soon as he encountered salt water perked up and began doing longer deeper dives. On November 4th, 1985, at 4:36 pm, he swam past the Golden Gate Bridge and headed south. Humphrey showed up again in 1990…and I’ll tell you how researchers managed to redirect him again tomorrow.

 

Mahalo,

Captain Claire

Breaches, Double Breaches and Monday Muggings

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Aloha,
We started our Whale Watching week off with a great show on our 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales cruise. guests saw 22 whales, including a competitive pod of very active whales throwing their peduncles and slapping their pec fins. The highlight of the trip though, was watching a baby whale breach more than 30 times! on our 10:00 Whale Watch, we saw 14 whales. We spent considerable time with a pod of 7 whales who kept surfacing all around the boat. According to our naturalist Mike, they didn’t seem to really be behaving aggressively — maybe they were just biding their time looking for a receptive female. And on our 3:00 Whales and Cocktails cruise we saw 10 whales. The trip started off kind of slow, but then we saw a spout near the Hilton Waikoloa Village. When we got about 100 yards away from it, we saw two more spouts…and then one of the whales breached right in front of us, followed by a spectacular synchronized double breach! After we stopped cheering, we saw a tiny spout a little further away, so we drove over to see Mom, baby and their escort. The baby was very curious and spent a lot of time checking us out (Mom allowed it), so we stayed in neutral and enjoyed the mugging.
Join Ocean Sports for a Whale Watch you’ll never forget. Call us at 886-6666 ext. 103 or visit www.hawaiioceansports.com to reserve your adventure today.
Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: The Humpbacks we see off Hawaii’s coastlines travel quite a bit between the islands, but researchers have yet to observe a directional trend. In other words, some whales travel North to South, some South to North, and some travel back and forth…a lot like our human visitors.
Mahalo,
Captain Claire

Windy Weather doesn’t stop the Sightings

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Aloha,
We sure had some wild winds this past weekend…which means we didn’t run all our Whale Watch cruises. But when we were running, we saw some great activity. On Friday, guests aboard our 10:00 Whale Watch from Kawaihae saw 11 Humpbacks. We  watched a very energetic calf breach 10 times. We also saw 8 tail lobs, 4 body lunges, 2 head lunges, 3 pec slaps and heard some great vocalizations when we deployed our hydrophone. Oh, and we did see a pod of Spinner Dolphins when we first left the harbor. On Saturday, the winds starting coming up early, but guests aboard our 8:00 Whale Watch saw 6 Humpbacks pretty far from the coastline. We did see splashes (but we weren’t close enough to determine how the whales were making them). On our Whales and Cocktails cruise, we saw 7 Humpbacks, and had 3 close encounters. We all got very excited when a whale decided to breach 105 yards from our boat. We also saw a couple of pec slaps and some tail raises. And we ran a special trip on Saturday afternoon for the Rotary Club out of Kawaihae. The Rotarians saw 3 whales — a Mom and her calf, and later a lone whale. But when we deployed the hydrophone, we heard quite a bit of vocalization…which means the whales are still close by. And on Sunday, guests aboard our 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales cruise battled the windy conditions but saw 4 Humpbacks and  2 full breaches about 100 yards from the boat. On our 3:00 Whales and Cocktails cruise, guests saw 8 Humpbacks and 7 peduncle throws.
Join Ocean Sports for a Whale Watching Adventure. Call us at 886-6666 ext. 103 or visit www.hawaiioceansports.com to reserve your spot today.

Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: Researchers note that female Humpbacks in the North Pacific population are seen with their first calf when they’re between 8 and 16 years old (the mean age is 11.8). In the North Atlantic, female Humpbacks give birth for the first time when they’re between 5 and 7 years old.

Mahalo,
Captain Claire

Triple Breach and Spinner Dolphins

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Aloha,
Our crazy weather on Thursday meant we only got to run one Whale Watch. But what a Whale Watch it was! Guests aboard our 10:00 Whale Watch from Kawaihae Harbor saw 10 Humpbacks, and an astonishing 9 breaches. What’s even more astonishing was that 2 of those breaches were double breaches and one was a triple breach — Mom, her baby, and the escort breached all at the same time. It took a long time for our blood pressure to return to normal after that one. We also saw 2 spy hops, 10 tail lobs (from the calf) and some pec slapping. And when we deployed the hydrophone we could hear some very loud singing happening close by. And even though we weren’t on an official Whale Watch, we did run a Private Snorkel Sail from Anaeho’omalu where we saw 6 Humpbacks and a pod of about 100 Spinner Dolphins. We saw the dolphins at the beginning of our trip, and as soon as they heard us, they made a b-line for the boat. Guests loved watching the dolphins bow surf, and we got to see some great end-over-end spins.
Join Ocean Sports for a Whale Watch Adventure. Call us at 886-6666 ext. 103 or visit www.hawaiioceansports.com to reserve your spot today.
Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: Researchers have observed that female Humpbacks don’t associate with each other at all while they’re in Hawaii. This is especially interesting in light of the fact that the females do associate with each other in Alaska — they’ll even feed cooperatively there. Since the females come here just to mate (and calve), we can postulate that female-female interaction must somehow get in the way of successful mating. Maybe groups of females would attract too many competitive males for safe mating to occur….what do you think?
Have a wonder weekend. I’ll send out the next report on Monday.
Mahalo,
Captain Claire

Muggings, Spy hops, Baby Breaches, and Escorts

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Aloha,
All 3 of our Wednesday Whale Watches had very interesting things to report. On our 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales, we started the trip with a mugging by 3 whales for more than 25 minutes — the female in the pod (we’re guessing based on behavior) kept leading the two males in front of, underneath and behind the boat. We all got great sightings of the three whales as they swam just feet below the surface and then surfaced very close to us! We saw a total of 23 whales on this trip, 3 breaches, 5 pec slaps and 2 peduncle throws. We also heard great sounds when we deployed the hydrophone. On our 10:00 Whale Watch, guests saw 20 whales, 4 head lunges, 2 pec slaps and three spy hops. Our hydrophone picked up some great sounds on that trip two. On our 3:00 Whales & Cocktails cruise, we saw 8 whales, including a Cow/Calf. The calf breached 3 times about 100 yards from the boat, and then proceeded to make 4 body lunges before Mom gave one big peduncle throw. We weren’t sure if she was just getting tired of her little guy’s hyperactive activity, or if there was an escort who hadn’t surfaced and she was trying to shoo him away. We also saw 9 breaches in the distance and a lot of other big splashes (we couldn’t tell exactly how the whales were creating them).
Join Ocean Sports on a Whale Watch you’ll never forget. Call us at 886-6666 ext. 103 or visit www.hawaiioceansports.com to reserve your adventure today.
Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: Researchers have observed that female Humpbacks with calves are accompanied by a male escort about 83% of the time during the winter season in Hawaii. Since nursing moms rarely get pregnant, we’re not sure why these males are hanging around ..one theory is that the escort is trying to make a good impression on the female so that when she is receptive, she’ll consider the possibility of mating with him. Other researchers theorize that she puts up with the company of one male, hoping that he’ll scare off other amorous suitors (maybe dealing with one male at a time is better than having to deal with 2, 3, 4 or more).
Mahalo,
Captain Claire

Singing and Dancing

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Aloha,
We’ve always kind of assumed that Humpbacks don’t mind the rain — after all, they do live in a wet world… and our Tuesday Whale Watches confirmed that. We began the day with a 10:00 Whale Watch from Anaeho’omalu. Guests saw 7 Humpbacks, including 2 pods of Cow/Calf/Escort. One of the escorts breached really close to the boat. We also saw quite a bit of tail lobbing and heard some great singing when we deployed the hydrophone. On our 3:00 Whales and Cocktails cruise, our guests who braved the on-again, off-again drizzly conditions saw 11 different whales. We weren’t sure if the highlight of the trip was watching a whale breach 100 feet from the boat…TWICE, the 25 minutes we were mugged by a sub-adult male, the pectoral slaps we saw, the loud singing we heard from our hydrophone, or the weirdly beautiful vertical twisting diving “dance” our mugging-whale performed three times as he passed by the boat and decided to return to us. If the whales’ interest in our boats today was at all caused by the weather, we say “Bring on the rain”!
Join Ocean Sports for an exciting Whale Watch Adventure. Call us at 886-6666 ext. 103 or vist www.hawaiioceansports.com for reservations today.
Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: At birth, a Humpback Whale Calf weighs betweeen 3% and 4% of his Mom’s weight. Interestingly, at birth, human babies average 4%-5% of their Mom’s weight.
Mahalo,
Captain Claire

Humpback navels, Cow/Calf Vocalizations

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Aloha,
We had a great start to our Whale Watching week with our 8:00 Breakfast with Whales cruise. we saw 15 different whales and spent a good deal of time watching a Cow/Calf/Escort pod. Baby breached three times, did one peduncle throw (well — it was sort of an attempt at a peduncle throw, but mostly just a big splash) and tried to approach us, but Mom  kept him from getting too close. We also saw an adult whale pectoral slapping 4 times. When we deployed the hydrophone, we heard some pretty clear singing from a couple of whales nearby. On the 10:00 Whale Watch, we saw 12 whales, but the highlight of the trip was being mugged for 20 minutes. The whale kept swimming right underneath us and we could see those long white pec fins of his clearly through the water. When we deployed the hydrophone, we actually got to hear a Mom and her baby vocalizing! Our naturalist, Jonathan, reports that the patterns of those vocalizations were very different from the Humpback Song we typically hear the male whales singing. He also noted that the Cow/calf pair were so close to us that when the sounds stopped, we could look over and watch them surface– a dead give away that this was the pair we were listening to!. On our 3:00 Whales and Cocktails cruise, we saw 7 whales, and spent most of our time watching two sub-adults. At one point they swam close enough to us that we could hear them breathing. One of these sub-adults was right on the tail of the other, and they whale in front didn’t seem to be enjoying the attention from his buddy — we watched him express his displeasure with a few small tail lobs.
Join Ocean Sports for a Whale Watch Adventure. Call 886-6666 ext. 103 or visit www.hawaiioceansports.com to reserve your spot today.

 

Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: Being mammals, Humpbacks have belly buttons —  in case you’re wondering….they’re “innies”.
Mahalo,
Captain Claire

Jaw clapping, lunging, breaching and Singing

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Aloha,

Our weekend began with an incredibly calm Friday morning — so calm, in fact, that some of our whales seemed lulled into sleep (or at least a deep doze). Guests aboard our 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales cruise encountered a whale behaving very unusually. He (or she) was lying on the surface in the typical “sleep” posture, breathing occasionally. But every minute or so, he was raising his caudal peduncle (the thin part of the tail) and lightly slapping his flukes on the water. As he drifted by us (we had our engines off so as not to disturb him), he began breathing really heavily — it sounded like snoring! We saw 20 whales on that trip, and a couple of pec slaps too. On the Whales and Cocktails cruise, we found 4 different Cow/Calf/Escort pods, and followed some pretty heavy competition from a different competitive pod. On Saturday, we began our 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales cruise with a sighting of a tiny calf literally just outside the Bay in about 40 feet of water! We were speculating that Mom had to be holding her stomach in to not be scraping up against the reef. After watching baby, Mom and escort surface a few times, we spotted a competitive pod of 4 whales — one of whom was inflating his mouth with air and then clapping his jaw shut (another aggressive display). We also saw a calf from a different pod breach 3 times in a row (although the last attempt resulted in sort of a half breach/half splash). This baby was curious about us, and led Mom and the escort right under our bow. Total whale count for that trip was17. On our 10:00 Whale Watch, we saw 8 Humpbacks, and really enjoyed the time we spent with a pod of Spinner Dolphins. While we were watching the dolphins surfing on our bow wake, a couple of Humpbacks popped up very close to the boat, and the dolphins decided it was time to play with the whales! On our 3:00 Whales and Cocktails, we saw 12 whales, but spent almost the whole trip watching a competitive pod of 5 whales. There was lots of jaw clapping and throat inflating from one of those whales, and we finally saw 3 breaches as we were returning to the Bay. On our Sunday 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales, we saw 14 different whales, but spent most of the trip with a Cow/Calf/Escort. We watched as another male tried to join the group, exuberantly breaching about 100 feet from our boat! Towards the end of the charter, we encountered a competitive pod of 3 whales and saw some lunging and general “shoving around” (though we know that’s not the technical term for what we were seeing). On the 10:00 Whale Watch we saw 6 different whales, and to finish off the weekend, on the 3:00 Whales and Cocktails, we saw 11 whales, but our most exciting siting was when Mom, her baby, and an escort swam right along side the starboard side of the boat!

 

Join Ocean Sports for a Whale Watch during the height of our Whale Watching Season. Call us at 886-6666 ext 103 or visit www.hawaiioceansports.com to reserve your adventure today.

 

Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: I’ve talked a lot about the song that only the male Humpbacks sing, but Humpbacks of both genders vocalize. In 1986, researchers off the Maui coastline broadcast the sounds that female whales make while they’re feeding — the sounds attracted all kinds of male whales. We’re not sure if those males were attracted to the sounds of females feeding because the Humpbacks are fasting and hungry while they’re here, or if they were attracted to the sounds of females feeding, because it’s mating season!

Mahalo,

Captain Claire

Mugged by Whales

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Aloha,
All I can say about Thursday is “WOW”!  Our Thursday began with a triple boat Whale Watch Charter out of Kawaihae, so guests aboard Alala, Manu Iwa and Seasmoke saw practically the same activities. All three boats spent more than 70 minutes literally being mugged by whales! We all spotted competitive pods about a mile out of the harbor and began heading South to see them. The whales must have been looking forward to our arrival because when we all turned off our engines the whales took turns swimming RIGHT UNDERNEATH EACH BOAT! Seasmoke and Alala were watching a competitive pod of 4 adults, and the female kept rolling over onto her back (an evasive maneuver) just under the surface of the water. We actually got to look into a whale’s eye as he was looking at us while swimming under our stern. At one point, all of the guests on Seasmoke were so enthralled by the whales swimming right below our stern that all but two of us missed seeing a different whale breach 50 feet from our Port side. Guests on Manu Iwa saw a whale calf breach 3 times in a row close by, and all of us got to see a different pod of Cow/Calf and two escorts. When we deployed our hydrophones on the boats, the songs were so loud that we had to keep turning down the volume on the speakers! On the 3:00 Whales and Cocktails, we saw 12 whales — lots of tail lobs and peduncle throws, and again, we heard some loud singing when we deployed the hydrophone.
Join Ocean Sports for a whale watch you’ll never forget! Call us at 886-6666 ext. 103 or visit www.hawaiioceansports.com to reserve your adventure today.
Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: Yesterday, I promised to explain how Humpbacks keep their cool when swimming through our warm Hawaiian Waters. During prolonged exercise in warm water, excess heat is shed by increasing circulation to a network of capillaries (in Latin they’re called “retia mirabiliia” which translates to “miracle network”) near the surface of the Humpbacks’ flippers, flukes and dorsal fin — the excess heat is shed to the external environment. In fact, many researchers believe that whales lifting their pectoral fins into the air, or resting with their flukes exposed vertically are actually trying to cool off.
Mahalo and have a wonderful weekend — I’ll send the next report out on Monday,
Captain Claire