Lots of Turtles and some Great Snorkeling

Aloha,
Well, it was another great day on the water on Sunday. The Spinner Dolphins may have eluded us, but we did have some wonderful clarity for snorkeling, and we all got to see green sea turtles, some beautiful coral and a couple of huge parrot fish!
Ocean Sports operates our Dolphin Watch Adventure on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday from 8:00-11:30. Every trip includes a continental breakfast, Kau Kau Buffet snack menu and an open bar — we also provide a marine life briefing, snorkel lesson, and some great snorkel time. Call us for details and reservations at 886-6666 ext. 103, or visit www.hawaiioceansports.com.
Dolphin Fact of the Day: A fully grown male Spinner Dolphin is actually pretty small — he’s only about 7 feet long and weighs in at about 180 pounds.
Mahalo,
Captain Claire

Dolphin Species and Manta Rays

Aloha,
Guests aboard our Thursday Dolphin Watch Adventure aboard Alala from Kawaihae harbor didn’t see dolphins, but we did have a very nice time snorkeling, and we did see a HUGE manta ray!
Ocean Sports operates our Dolphin Watch Adventure every Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday, departing at 8:00 am and returning at 11:30. Call us at 886-6666 ext. 103 or visit www.hawaiioceansports.com for details.
Dolphin Fact of the Day: Of the 33 to maybe 57 species of dolphins in the world (researchers don’t agree on the number), only 13 species are found off Hawaiian waters. Of those 13, just 4 are commonly seen here: Spinners, Rough Tooth, Spotted, and Bottlenose.
Mahalo,
Captain Claire

Stenella longirostrus – an aptly named dolphin

Aloha,
Our Tuesday Dolphin Watch Adventure got cut short due to the strong and gusty trade winds so I don’t have any dolphin sitings to report. But I will share a Dolphin Fact of the Day: The Latin Genus/Species name for the Spinner Dolphin is Stenella longirostrus which is very descriptive. “Stenella” comes from a Greek word meaning “narrow”, and “longirostrus” is translated as “long snout”. When you look at our Spinner Dolphin (especially when you compare it to the Bottle nose dolphins you can see at the Hilton Waikoloa Village’s Dolphin Quest program) you can see that they’re aptly named.
Mahalo,
Captain Claire

Tons of Turtles

Aloha,
Our Dolphin Watch Adventure departed out of Anaeho’omalu Bay on Sunday and headed north looking for dolphins. We didn’t encounter any of them, but we did have a fun snorkel experience at 2 different locations; Puako, and what we call “6th Hole” which is actually the North side of Honokaope Bay (just south of the Mauna Lani Bay Resort). According to our onboard naturalist Angelica, our guests saw “tons of turtles”!
Ocean Sports operates our Dolphin Watch Adventure on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. We depart at 8:00 and return at 11:30. For more information, please feel free to call us at 886-6666 ext. 103!
Dolphin Fact of the Day: Spinner Dolphins are in the family Delphinidae, along with 32 other species of dolphins and small toothed whales (including Orcas).
Mahalo,
Captain Claire

Spinner Dolphins Day Time Activities

Aloha
On our Dolphin Watch Adventure on Thursday, we found a small pod of Spinners about 1/2 mile North of Kawaihae Harbor. The Dolphins were really pretty close to land so we didn’t want to disturb them — we didn’t drive the boat too close to them. As a result, we didn’t see them come over to bow-surf, but guests onboard saw some pretty fun leaps and spins from a few more active members of the pod.
Ocean Sports operates our Dolphin Watch Adventure on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, from 8:00-11:30, usually departing from Kawaihae Harbor on Alala.
Dolphin Fact of the Day: Spinner Dolphins feed at night in deep water, and come in shallow during the day time hours to rest.
Mahalo,
Captain Claire

Dolphin Watch Adventure gets off to a Great Start!

Aloha,
We ran our inaugural Dolphin Watch Adventure today on Alala from Kawaihae. Due to the high winds, we were only able to stay out for an hour though…but our guests had the opportunity to reschedule their trip. On a happier note, we did see Spinner Dolphins! Guests braving the winds got some good photos from the bow. So though we wish we could have stayed out for the entire 3 1/2 hours, we did get a glimpse of the future!
Ocean Sports operates the Dolphin Watch Adventure on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, departing from Kawaihae at 8:00 am, and returning at 11:30.
Dolphin Fact of the Day: Spinner Dolphins are in the order Cetacean (just like our Humpback friends), but they’re in a different sub-order. Spinner dolphins are “Odontocetes”, which means “toothed”.
I’ll be sending out Dolphin Watch Updates throughout the season as we operate the Dolphin Watch Adventure. And just like with our Whale Reports, all these reports will be archived in our blog at www.bigislandwhalewatch.com.
Mahalo,
Captain Claire

Harbingers — the final report of the season

Aloha,
We ran our final Whale Watch of the 2011/2012 season on Sunday. Guests aboard our 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales cruise were fortunate to see the harbinger for our 20012/2013 Whale Season…a female Humpback with her small calf. According to our onboard naturalist Angelica, Captain Scotty had to cruise all the way up to Kawaihae to find the whales (the trip departed from Anaeho’omalu) but seeing that little calf travelling quietly with Mom was a sweet experience for all aboard the trip.
All these new calves we’ve seen this season bode well for the future of the Humpback population in the North Pacific. According to research results released in 2008 by SPLASH (Structure of Populations, Levels of Abundance and Status of Humpback Whales in  the North Pacific – a research project involving more than 400 researchers in 10 countries)  there are approximately18,000 – 20,000 Humpbacks living in the North Pacific, with the population wintering in Hawaii seeing a 5.5% – 6% annual rate of increase since the early 1990’s.
We feel really lucky that we’ve been able to get a glimpse of the lives of these Humpbacks this winter, and we appreciate everything you’ve done to help Big Island visitors and residents experience these special moments too.
We want to send a Mahalo out to each of you who have made this season possible, a Mahalo to those of you who sent emails with questions and words of encouragement about these reports, and a special Mahalo to researcher Chris Gabriele who read each of my Humpback Whale Facts of the Day, and shared her knowledge of updated research results and techniques.
As we left our Humpback pod this morning, we were escorted by a big pod of Spinner Dolphins…another harbinger. But this time, it was a harbinger of our Summer Season Dolphin Watch Adventures (beginning this Tuesday).
Once again, Mahalo!
Captain Claire

Quiet Moms and Babies and Wanna Be Escorts

Aloha,
We started out our last Friday of Whale Season with, as our on board naturalist Angelica, put it, “a Great Trip”! On the 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales, we saw 4 Humpbacks. The first two were spotted just as we exited the Bay. They looked to be adolescents (in the 30 foot long range), and weren’t doing a whole lot besides surfacing and breathing…and then we saw spouts from Mom and Baby, so we made our way over to them. The Baby was really small…an end of the season calf, and the two of them were on 2 minute breath hold dives. We spent the remainder of our trip with this pod, watching them travel along the coast. As we headed back into the Bay, we had a bonus surprise as we all got to see a Manta Ray “flying” and somersaulting right below the ocean’s surface. On our 10:00 Whale Watch from Kawaihae, we saw 3 Humpbacks. We found a Cow/Calf pod and once in awhile we saw a third whale sort of nearby. We’re pretty sure he was an escort (or trying to be one) but we didn’t see him much so we can’t be sure. We didn’t hear any sounds when we deployed the hydrophone, so not only were there no male singers in our vicinity, but Mom and Baby were being quiet too. Some researchers have observed that females with very small calves often are quiet (not vocalizing much) presumably because they don’t want to attract the attention of those wanna-be escorts.
There’s just one weekend left of our Spectacular 2011/2012 Whale Watch Season. Don’t miss your chance to say “aloha” to our Humpbacks! Call us at 886-6666 ext. 103 or visit www.hawaiioceansports.com to reserve your guaranteed adventure today! And our Guarantees never expire….
Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: In 2004, a company called Whale Power was founded by Dr.Frank Fish, Dr. Phil Watts and Stephen Dewar. The company builds fan blades shaped like a Humpback’s Pectoral Fins with tubercles on the leading edge. The ironically named Dr.Fish was inspired to develop the prototype after looking at a sculpture of a Humpback, and pondering how (or if) the bumps on the front of the whale’s fins would help him move efficiently through the water. He and his partners enlisted the help of the Navy and used their wind tunnel to discover that tubercles break up air (or water flow)…and now with the whale-inspired design, Whale Power’s turbine blades are not only more efficient than smooth blades, but they never stall out violently like smooth blades do, and thus don’t damage the turbine engines. The company’s motto… “A Million Years of Field Tests”.
Mahalo and have a great weekend. I’ll send out the next (and last) whale report on Monday. If you have any other questions about the Humpbacks that you’d like me to answer, please email me over the weekend.
Captain Claire

Migaloo, the Modern Day Great White Whale

Aloha – We ran two Whale Watches on Wednesday and didn’t though we travelled the coastline, we didn’t see any Humpbacks. Our trips are Guaranteed though, so all our guests have been invited to try again with us for free! Since we didn’t see any Humpbacks along our coastline, I’ll tell you a little about a very interesting Humpback that lives in the South Pacific.
Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: Since 1991, Whale Watchers off the coast of Australia have been seeing an all-white Humpback. They named him “Migaloo”, which is the aboriginal word for “white fella”, and DNA samples taken from skin he sloughed off into the water after a breach confirmed that he is, in fact, a male.He was believed to be the only all white Humpback in the world until September 2011, when an all white Humpback calf was spotted off of the Australian Coast. Whale watchers named him “Migaloo Jr”, and researchers are trying to determine if this little calf is related to Migaloo Senior. Up until very recently, researchers assumed that Migaloo was a true albino whale, but now he’s considered to be “hypo-pigmented” since they aren’t totally sure he produces absolutely no pigment (his eyes may have color). And yes…Migaloo does have problems with the sun. Whale Watchers in Australia have noted the poor guy does get quite the sunburn.
We’re only operating Whale Watch Trips for a few more days….call us at 886-6666 ext. 103 or visit www.hawaiioceansports.com to reserve your Guaranteed Adventure today.
Mahalo,
Captain Claire

Lots of Spinners

Aloha,
We only ran one Whale Watch on Tuesday — the 10:00 Whale Watch on Alala out of Kawaihae harbor. We didn’t see any Humpbacks, but we did see whales….we found a HUGE pod of Spinner Dolphins. According to our onboard naturalist, Jonathan, this pod probably numbered more than 200 animals. Spinner Dolphins are Odontocetes (toothed whales)…they feed out in the open ocean at night on “the deep scattering layer” — which is a vertical migration of squid and weird-looking fish like lantern fish. The Spinners spend most of their daylight hours in shallower waters, resting and playing. Oh, and in case you’re wondering, since we guarantee that you’ll see Humpbacks on our Whale Watches; not just “whales”, the guests who joined us this morning are invited to ride again with us for FREE.
There’s only a few days left for our 2011/2012 Humpback Whale Season. Call us at 886-6666 ext. 103 or visit www.hawaiioceansports.com to reserve your guaranteed Whale Watch today.
Humpback Whale Fact of the Day:  Though the Humpbacks we see average between 40 and perhaps 50 feet long, there is anecdotal evidence that the largest Humpback killed by whalers was 88 feet long. This Humpback was taken in the Caribbean.
Mahalo,
Captain Claire