Aloha,
The winds calmed down on Monday allowing for some great whale watching! On our Breakfast with the Whales Cruise, we saw one incredible breach (and lots of other breaching a bit further away). We also saw two different Mom/Baby pods – both accompanied by escorts. One of the babies was curious about us and swam right up to us for a look. On our 10:00 Whale Watch, it seemed to us that the whales wanted to rest. We saw lots of spouts, lots of peduncle arches (the posture that gives the whales their common name “Humpback”) and lots of flukes. At 12:30, everyone woke up again. We had a close encounter with a Mom and her Baby for just about 20 minutes. These whales seemed to enjoy us as much as we were enjoying them. And then, towards the end of the cruise, we found a competitive pod who came within 200 yards of us. They were really aggressive towards each other – and we actually got to watch one whale swim right up on top of another one, kind of sinking him and shoving him at the same time. And if that wasn’t enough, just before we got back to the bay, we found a pod of Spinner Dolphins! And on our Whales and Cocktails Cruise, we were all watching whales on one side of the boat when we got a surprise visit from a Mom and calf who then decided to stay right with us for about 20 minutes. After they left, we found a competitive pod who were head lunging and charging. And then…out of nowhere, we were all surprised when a BIG whale decided to do a full breach just about 50 yards from the boat. As Captain Will reports…it was just “FANTASTIC”.
Mahalo,
Claire
Captain Claire’s Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: Before whaling was banned internationally, Humpback whales’ livers were processed for their oil, which contained a lot of vitamin A. A fully grown Humpback has a liver that weighs between 800 and 1400 pounds.