Baleen…what it really is…and lots of Close Encounters

Aloha,
Our weekend of whale watching was wonderful (sorry for the alliteration). Highlights included Friday’s Breakfast with the Whales, where we saw 7 whales and one breach in the distance. We also found a huge pod of Spinner Dolphins travelling south towards Keawaiki. That evening, guests aboard our Champagne Sunset Sail were delighted to see two Humpbacks just as the sun was setting…and they even breached for us. On Saturday’s Breakfast with the Whales, we saw 4 whales…two of them appeared to be juveniles (based on their sizes), and like kids of every species, they were pretty curious about their surroundings. Luckily for us, they approached us twice! On our 10:00 Whale Watch from Kawaihae we saw 5 Humpbacks and lots of Spinner Dolphins. On Sunday’s Breakfast with the Whales, Ryan, our on board naturalist reports 2 whales just south of Anaeho’omalu, chasing each other around. At one point they swam right under the boat and then stayed near us for about 15 minutes. They swam away…but turned back and gave us another close encounter. Guests had a similar experience on our 10:00 Whale Watch when 3 whales swam right under our boat. They were close enough to the surface that we could see their outlines perfectly. We ended the weekend with 4 whales on our Whales and Cocktails Cruise. These 4 did swim by closely enough that we could see the barnacles on their flukes!
 
Join Ocean Sports on any of our 3 daily Whale Watch Cruises. Call (808)886-6666 ext. 103 or visit HawaiiOceanSports.com to reserve your adventure today.
 
Aloha,
Claire
 
Captain Claire’s Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: Humpback Whales don’t have teeth —they have approximately 270 – 400 pairs of baleen plates hanging from the top palate of their mouths ranging in length from a foot to about 3 feet long. Where the baleen is attached to the palate, it feels like a horse’s hoof — but it fringes out to form dense mats allowing the whale to “strain the soup of the ocean” when feeding.

Faint Singing, Lots of Spouts with Lots of Air, and Close Encounters

Aloha,
Our Thursday Whale Watches began with 3 sightings on the Breakfast with the Whales Cruise. Our onboard naturalst Kane reports the whales had long bottom times, and performed no surface activities (other than coming up to breathe). Guests aboard the boat were really excited though when at one point, one of the whales surfaced just 50 feet from the boat. On our 10:00 Whale Watch, our on onbard naturalist Dr. Jonathan reports that guests saw 4 Humpbacks with one “pretty spectacular breach on the horizon”. He also tells us that when they hyrdophone was deployed they were able to pick up some faint singing, and says guests were excited by the two different close encounters (whales approaching us closer than 100 yards). And the action continued on to our Whales & Cocktails Cruise with guests seeing lots more spouts from at least 2 whales.
 
Join Ocean Sports for Hawaii’s Best Whale Watch Tours. Call us at (808)886-6666 ext. 103 or visit HawaiiOceanSports.com to reserve your adventure today.
 
Mahalo and have a wonderful weekend. I’ll send out the next report on Monday.
Claire
 
 
Captain Claire’s Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: When a Humpback spouts, he’s exhaling in a half of a second, 90% of the volume of air in his lungs. It’s enough air in one blow to fill up the interior of a mini van. In case you’re curious, when an average size human adult exhales, he takes 3 times as long to exhale just 15% of the volume of air in his lungs — and an adult exhalation wouldn’t even fill up a Smart Car — it’s only enough air to fill up a lunch bag.

A Surprise Close Encounter

Aloha,
Wednesday’s Whale Watches started out with a bang! Guests aboard Seasmoke’s Breakfast with the Whales cruise were delighted to find a whale just a couple miles off shore of Anaeho’omalu Bay. We hung out with this whale for quite awhile, as s/he was surfacing pretty frequently. At one point, we were just idling quietly, watching and waiting for the whale to surface again. Everyone on the boat was scanning in different directions, and many of us had our theories about which direction the whale was next likely to pop up when we all got a HUGE surprise as the whale surfaced just 25 feet from the boat! Apparently this whale was as interested at getting a close look at us as we were at getting a look at him. On our 10:00 Whale Watch, we saw 8 different Humpbacks…including a competitive pod of 3. At one point, the lead whale of the pod (which is invariably a female) surfaced at the 9:00 position, and then swam under the boat and came up again at the 1:00 position so everyone on board, regardless of which side of the boat they were standing on, got a close encounter! We also saw Spinner Dolphins on this trip…most of them appeared to be resting, but we did see one end-on-end spin!
 
Join us and celebrate the end of 2012 with Hawaii’s Best Whale Watch Tours. Call us at (808)886-6666 ext. 103 or visit HawaiiOceanSports.com to reserve your adventure today.
 
Mahalo,
Claire
 
Captain Claire’s Humpback Whale Fact of the Day:Though the Humpbacks we typically see in Hawaii 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.

Spouts, Tails Slaps and Flukes to Celebrate Christmas

Aloha,
We hope you all enjoyed your Kalikimaka Celebrations..we celebrated with the Humpbacks! Highlights included sightings of 5 different Humpbacks on our Breakfast with the Whales Cruise. We found all these whales about 1/2 mile off shore– and we didn’t have to travel far, as all of them were between the Mauna Lani area and Anaeho’omalu Bay. We loved watching a juvenile Humpback as he (or she – we couldn’t be sure) breached 3 times about 200 yards from the boat. We also saw some fluke slapping from this whale! On the 10:00 Whale Watch, guests saw 3 whales off shore of Anaeho’omalu Bay spouting and diving. And the action didn’t stop, because on our Whales & Cocktails Cruise we saw some spouting and fluking too,
 
Celebrate the new year with Hawaii’s Best Whale Watch Tours at Ocean Sports. Call us at (808)886-6666 ext. 103 or visit HawaiiOceanSports.com to reserve your adventure.
 
Mahalo,
Claire
 
Captain Claire’s Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: A fully grown Humpback Whale can hold his or her breath for around 45 minutes. Usually, that’s not what we observe in Hawaii though. We’re more likely to witness 10-20 minute breath hold dives, and if the whale is really active, s/he surfaces to breathe a lot more frequently

Mele Kalikimaka!

Mele Kalikimaka!
Monday was a great day on the water for our guests and for our whales. On the 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales Cruise, our onboard naturalist Mike reports that the guests saw 5 different Humpbacks. Most of the action was just spouting and swimming, till the very end of the trip when one whale surprised everyone by breaching…and then we saw about 20 pectoral slaps. On our 10:00 Whale Watch from Kawaihae, we had 2 sightings. The first whale was pretty mellow, spouting and diving just off shore of the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel. After watching this whale for awhile, we saw a much smaller whale breaching off the coast of the Mauna Lani Bay Hotel. So we travelled south, and by the time we got there, he had stopped breaching, but he did come over to check out the stern of the boat. On our Whales & Cocktails Cruise, we saw 4 Humpbacks. One was a loner…but the other 3 were pretty competitive. Our on-board naturalist Nate said it looked like they were having “some sort of a brawl”.
 
Celebrate the New Year with an adventure at sea on an Ocean Sports Whale Watch! Call us at (808)886-6666 ext. 103 or visit HawaiiOceanSports.com for reservations today.
 
Aloha,
Claire
 
Captain Claire’s Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: When we see a Humpback wave his pectoral fin (what would be an arm on a human), it looks really floppy — as if there were no bones inside it at all. But If you were to x-ray that fin, surprisingly, you’d find all the same bones and joints that we have in our arms — all the way down to the smallest digits of our fingers. Though according to researcher Spencer Wilkie Tinker, Humpbacks are missing their third finger.mele

Lone Humpbacks and Spinners

Aloha,
Our weekend of whale watching was really pretty good for the beginning of the season…Highlights included Saturday’s Whales and Cocktails cruise where we found a lone Humpback about 3 miles off shore of Anaeho’omalu Bay. The whale seemed kind of interested in us as he cruised parallel to us for about 30 minutes. At one point, he surfaced about 20 yards from the boat! And on Sunday’s 10:00 Whale Watch, we started the morning with a pod of Spinner Dolphins just outside of the harbor. As is often the case, as soon as the dolphins sensed and heard the boat, they came right over to investigate (and play). We saw a lot of spins and leaps, and watched them surf our bow wake for about 15 minutes. Towards the end of this trip, we found a smaller Humpback (about 30 feet long) who surfaced a few times relatively near us…and then BREACHED! And later in the day, on our Whales & Cocktails cruise we found a lone whale again who spent some time with us, mostly just cruising parallel to our boat.
 
Join us on any of our Whale Watch Cruises departing daily! Call us at (808)886-6666 ext. 103 or visit HawaiiOceanSports.com to reserve your adventure today.
 
Mahalo,
Claire
 
Captain Claire’s Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: Humpback Whales and Spinner Dolphins are actually related — they’re both classified under the scientific order of “Cetacean”. But they’re in different sub-orders. Humpbacks are baleen whales, classified in the sub-order called “Mysticete” (which translates from a Greek word that means “mustached”). Spinner Dolphins are classified as toothed whales, in the sub-order “Odontocete. The word “Odontocete” translates from another Greek word and refers to the teeth these whales have in their mouths.
 

More on Migration

Aloha,
Thursday brought us a mixed bag for whale watching. Guests aboard our Breakfast with the Whales Cruise didn’t see any Humpbacks, and though the guests aboard our 10:00 Whale Watch from Kawaihae did see a spout in the distance, it was pretty windy, so we couldn’t get out to that whale. Captains on both cruises called the trips a “fluke” so guests aboard both those cruises are invited to return on another whale watch cruise for FREE! On our Whales & Cocktails Cruise, Captain Will reports seeing a whale off the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel. They never got closer than about 400 yards to that whale, but he tells us that the guests saw the whale “spouting and splashing around a bit” on the surface.
 
Our Whale Watch Season has just begun….join us on any of our 3 Whale Watches Cruises departing daily. Call (808)886-6666 ext. 103 or visit HawaiiOceanSports.com for information and reservations.
 
Mahalo, and enjoy your weekend. I’ll send out my next report on Monday.
claire
 
Captain Claire’s Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: Though no one is really sure how Humpback Whales are able to navigate so accurately through the open ocean to find Hawaii, research conducted on the migratory paths of a few South Atlantic and a few South Pacific Humpbacks between 2003 and 2007 did show that regardless of currents on the surface, storms and obstacles, the humpbacks never deviated more than about 5 degrees from their straight-line migratory paths. Researchers don’t think the whales are relying solely on the earth’s magnetic fields for navigation, since magnetism varies too widely to explain the straight paths the whales swim, and they also don’t think the whales are just using the sun (like many birds do) because the ocean wouldn’t provide an adequate frame of reference. It’s possible the whales rely on both those methods, combined with celestial markers. Or maybe the whales navigate by following the sounds of each other’s voices. Researchers are still working to solve the mystery.

Why Whales Do What They Do (maybe)

Aloha,
Wednesday’s Whale Watches were sure a lot of fun! On our 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales Cruise, our onboard naturalist Kealohi was excited to report sighting 2 Humpbacks near the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel. One of the whales breached once and did 3 head lunges! On our 10:00 Whale Watch from Kawaihae, guests were treated to sightings of a Bottle-nose Dolphin (which is actually kind of rare for us…we usually see their smaller cousins, the Spinners). We also got the opportunity to watch a smaller Humpback (estimated to be about 25 feet long) just outside of the harbor. This little guy breached 3 times! And on our Whales and Cocktails Cruise, Captain Baker reports that guests watched a lone Humpback surfacing and sounding on 19 minutes dives.
Join Ocean Sports on any of our 3 daily Whale Watch Tours. Call us at (808)886-6666 ext. 103 or visit HawaiiOceanSports.com for information and reservations.
Mahalo,
Claire
 
Captain Claire’s Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: One of the questions we get asked most frequently on whale watches, is “Why are the whales doing that?” (and for “that”,you can substitute any whale behavior we see…breaches, head lunges, peduncle throws…etc). Since we really can’t ask the whales (well, we can ask, but they aren’t answering) we tend to interpret behavior based on what else is going on in the whales’ lives at that particular time. Humpbacks are in Hawaii to mate, calve, and take care of their babies. Aerial behaviors often result in big splashes which may be a great way for a whale to communicate size, status, location, excitement, aggression, irritation, or health to other whales (or to something/someone else he hears on the surface). I’ll discuss other common theories for why the whales act the way they do in future emails.

Windy weather hides the Humpbacks

Aloha,,
Well…Tuesday was a VERY windy day in Waikoloa, and though we did take Seasmoke out on our Breakfast with the Whales Cruise, we weren’t able to find any Humpbacks. That doesn’t mean they aren’t here…it just means that any tell-tale spouts from close-by whales dissipated so quickly that none of us saw them. Our guests did have a fun ride though, (and enjoyed learning about the whales from our onboard naturalists…and everyone liked the continental breakfast and our Ocean Sports Ohana Malie Kona coffee).Best of all, since our morning trips are guaranteed, everyone is invited back to ride on another Whale Watch Cruise for FREE! Call us at (808)886-6666 ext. 103 or visit HawaiiOceanSports.com for more information and reservations.
 
Mahalo,
Claire
 
Captain Claire’s Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: There are Humpback Whale populations in all the oceans of the world. The whales we see here each winter are part of the North Pacific population. “Our” whales feed in the waters of the Gulf of Alaska during the summer months. They swim the 3500 miles to Hawaii each year to calve in warm waters (and to mate).

A Peduncle Throw and a Close Encounter

Aloha,
Our Monday morning Humpbacks seemed to enjoy the Anaeho’omalu Bay area. Guests aboard our 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales cruise on Seasmoke were treated to sightings of 4 Humpbacks. Two of them were in the distance, but the other pod of two stayed with us for more than 30 minutes. We were all pretty excited when one of the whales threw his peduncle out of the water (the peduncle is what we call the back half of the whale…from behind his dorsal fin). According to our on-board naturalist Mike, at one point, a whale surfaced just 50 feet from the boat (though we never approach the whales closer than 100 yards, they can choose to approach us)! Guests aboard our 10:00 Whale Watch from Kawaihae didn’t see any whales, but since our morning trips are guaranteed, they’re all invited to ride again with us for FREE! And by 3:00,the wind had really come up, so we decided that in the interest of guest comfort, to reschedule our Whales & Cocktails Cruise.
 
Join Ocean Sports for the best Hawaii Whale Watch Tours! Call us at (808)886-6666 ext. 103, or visit HawaiiOceanSports.com to reserve your adventure today!
 
Mahalo,
Claire
 
Captain Claire’s Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: Humpback Whales received protected status from the International Whaling Commission in 1966, banning most nations from hunting them. In the U.S., the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, and the Endangered Species Act of 1973 provide additional protection to the whales. In fact, unless operating under a federal research permit, approaching humpback whales within 100 yards (300 feet) or within 1,000 feet from aircraft is prohibited by federal regulations.