Aloha,
There’s all sorts of stuff to tell you about Thursday’s Whale Watches, because we saw all sorts of really interesting activity. On the 10:00 Whale Watch, we saw 33 different whales…no calves though. We really didn’t have to travel far – we saw whales just outside the harbor and then continued to see them no matter which direction we were looking. We did see quite a few breaches a couple of miles out, but we were so interested in watching our close-by whales that we didn’t go out to see the breachers. When we dropped the hydrophone, it sounded like the whales were singing directly into the microphone. We went out again at 12:30 and this time, we saw 28 different whales. We watched a sub-adult pec slap 18 times, then roll over and slap some more. After diving for a few minutes he came up and started slapping again. This whale was accompanied by another whale and from our vantage point, it sure look like the other guy was getting slapped. This second whale did take his revenge and shoved the pec slapper with his rostrum a few times. We also saw quite a few tail lobs and had several close encounters. The hydrophone on this trip also let us hear some very clear sounds. On the Whales and Cocktails Cruise, we saw all sorts of breaching but the last 40 minutes were absolutely incredible. Our boat was actually circled by a pod of Spinner Dolphins accompanying a Mom/Baby duo, while a couple of other adults (we assume they were males) breached around us. So incredible!
Mahalo and have a Great Weekend. I’ll send out the next report on Monday.
Claire
Captain Claire’s Humpback Fact of the Day: Humpback whales have 52-54 vertebrae, of which 42 are articulating (jointed) and 10 are fused forming the sacrum. Humans usually have 33 vertebrae, of which 24 are articulating and 9 fused forming our sacrums.