Late Season Sightings

Aloha,
I know on April 16th that I said “aloha” to our spectacular 2012/2013 Humpback season, but I just had to share with you that on Sunday’s Dolphin Watch Encounter from Anaeho’omalu Bay, we saw Humpbacks! We hadn’t gone more than 5 minutes outside of Anaeho’omalu Bay before we saw a big splash. We knew right away that it had to have been from a Humpback…but we didn’t see the whale. So of course, we kept going west towards the splash, and slowed down when we thought we were in the vicinity. Who should pop up right in front of us, but Mom, baby and escort!
Baby was fairly big…and Mom and the escort were fairly small for adults. It was obvious to all of us aboard that the escort was actively pursuing Mom and she kept changing directions to avoid him. Baby was out in front…but we did get to see him do a quick dive under Mom (nursing maybe?). We were fortunate enough to watch this pod for about 30 minutes before they changed direction completely and we decided to move on to our snorkel spot.
Just thought you might be interested! April 21st, and we’re still seeing whales!!
Mahalo,
Claire

Baby Breaches and Double Breaches

Aloha,
Our last weekend of the whale watch season started off well. On Friday’s Breakfast with the Whales Cruise, our onboard naturalist Mike reports seeing 10 or 12 different Humpbacks throughout the morning. We saw 2 different pods of Mom/Baby, and one of these pods also had an escort with them. It’s possible the other pod did too, but since the escorts don’t surface nearly as often as baby and Mom, we weren’t sure. We also dropped the hydrophone and heard a lot of singing…so there are definitely quite a few whales still around Hawaii. On Saturday’s Breakfast with the Whales Cruise, we spent most of our time watching two very calm whales swimming and spouting. But on the Whales and Cocktails we got to see a little competition. We found a pod of Mom, Baby and two escorts. It was easy to tell the two escorts apart, because when they showed their flukes, one was almost all black, and the other all white. All the chasing around they were doing got the baby excited, and we got to see him breach right next to the boat!  We also saw a double breach from two adults a bit further out. Sunday’s Whale Watches were pretty quiet – but we did see some spouts and a few tails. On our 10:00 Whale Watch, most of the action was pretty far away, so even though a few whales were spotted, Captain Paul decided to invite our guests to come out with us again for our last day of whale watching this season.
Mahalo…and I’ll send out my final whale report for the 2012/2013 season tomorrow!
Claire
Captain Claire’s Humpback Fact of the Day: New research results released just his year (conducted by Dr. Adam Pack and his associates) documents that the largest female Humpbacks will associate almost exclusively with the largest males.  The largest males however were much less discriminating — they were seen associating with females of all sizes. And the smaller males have been seen only associating with smaller females. who may not have even reached sexual maturity. So yes…. size does matter (at least for the female humpbacks)!

More Competition

Aloha,
On Thursday’s Breakfast with the Whales Cruise, we had to work a bit to find the whales, but when we did…what a show! We started the cruise with sightings of two adult Humpbacks. We saw them spout a few times, and then saw their flukes as they began longer deeper dives…so we decided to move on. We motored around some more until we saw some splashes so we went to investigate. The splashes turned out to be from a pod of two competing whales. One was obviously chasing the other around, and the whale that was being chased appeared to be pretty irritated (or excited) because we got to see this whale breach SEVEN times about 100 yards from the boat!
Mahalo and have a wonderful weekend. I’ll send out the weekend recap on Monday. It’s hard to believe there are only 4 days of this fantastic 2012/2013 Humpback Whale Season left for us. Luckily for all us whale watchers, a lot of these whales don’t seem to know the season ends on Monday and seem to be sticking around!
Claire
Captain Claire’s Humpback Fact of the Day: As we bid “aloha” to the Humpbacks this season and eagerly await their return, we now know that not every Humpback who survives the summer season in Alaska will choose to migrate back next winter. Based on information compiled by our favorite researcher Chris Gabriele and her cohorts for the National Park Service in Glacier Bay and Icy Strait, at least 10 Humpbacks have been documented spending one winter off the coast of Sitka, and at least one off the coast of Juneau. We really don’t know how common this behavior is because almost no photographic identification research takes place in SE Alaska over the winter months (and who can blame the researchers when there are such great opportunities to conduct their studies in sunny Hawaii instead??!!).

More Late Season Calves

Aloha,
Guests aboard our 10:00 Whale Watch on Wednesday got to see a total of 9 whales. We were really lucky to get to spend almost an hour and a half cruising parallel to a pod of 3 whales…Mom, her baby, and a very good sized escort. We didn’t see a lot of energetic surface displays from these 3 whales as they seemed intent on just swimming along slowly off the Kohala Coast., but we did get some nice fluke sightings from the escort. The ocean conditions were just about perfect…so we did get to deploy our hydrophone. We could hear quite a bit of singing still, though we could tell that the singers were pretty far away from us.
Mahalo,
Claire
Captain Claire’s Humpback Fact of the DayBased on the number of Humpback sightings we’ve been experiencing, we know that most of the Humpbacks have begun their almost 3000 mile long migration to the waters off of Alaska…which sounds like a very long swim. But in 2001 a Norwegian tourist snapped a photo of a female Humpback in breeding grounds off the coast of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. When he found the photo again in 2010 and posted it, researchers were able to match the flukes to a photo they had taken of the SAME whale in breeding grounds off the coast of Brazil — which means she had swum more than 6000 miles! Researchers aren’t sure what motivated the whale to swim across the Atlantic– until this whale was identified in both places, it was assumed that Humpbacks only travelled across latitudes, not longitudes. Which just goes to show you…we still have a LOT to learn.

Eating a Whale??

Aloha,
We saw 10 different Humpbacks on our 10:00 Whale Watch on Tuesday. The first whale we saw was all by him (or her) self. We saw his all-black fluke a few times as he dove near us. We also found a pod of two wales south of the harbor — Mom and her very, very young calf. Not only was this calf really small, but her dorsal fin was totally bent over onto her back (when the baby is born, the dorsal is flattened so the baby can slide more easily out of the birth canal — researchers estimate that it takes about 6 weeks for the cartilage in the fin to stiffen up, allowing the dorsal fin to assume its “adult position”). We watched this pod for awhile, but since they were basically just swimming near the surface and breathing, we decided to give them their space. On the way back to the harbor, we saw spouts from 3 other pods of 2 or 3 whales. Considering that this was April 9th already, we’re still amazed at the number of sightings we’re having on our whale watches!
Mahalo,
Claire
Captain Claire’s Humpback Fact of the Day:In 1918, in effort to stockpile more beef, mutton and pork to send to the American troops fighting the 1st World War, the US government sponsored a luncheon at the American Museum of National History in New York featuring Humpback Whale meat. Several dignitaries were invited (including Admiral Peary) to feast on the menu created by the Head Chef of Delmonico’s, and were quoted saying the meat tasted like pot roast or venison. During the luncheon, the museum’s “reliable sources” reported that if all of the 7 operational whaling stations on the Pacific Coast began processing whale for food (instead of for fertilizer), more than 20 million pounds of whale meat could be distributed to the American public during the summer months alone at a cost of 12.5 cents/pound. The idea never really caught on with the American public though. 

Baby Breaches

Aloha,
Monday’s 10:00 Whale Watch started off as a dolphin encounter. Just as we left the harbor, we encountered a pod of Spinners who found us to be quite the attraction. As soon as they heard the boat, the made a B-line towards us so they could surf our bow wake. We saw lots of spins and end-over-end flips from these guys. We then found a Humpback who was swimming pretty fast on the surface. We paralleled this whale until we saw encountered a second whale. The two started competing a bit, and we saw some pectoral slaps and peduncle throws from the two of them. On our Snorkel Sail, Captain Will reports finding a Mom with a very energetic calf. We were under sail, but the calf must of thought it would be fun to check us out as he swam over to us and then started breaching just about 100 yards from the boat. We saw 5 breaches from this little guy including one complete flip! And on the Champagne Sunset Sail, we found 3 pods with two whales in each. These pods were all off shore of Puako, and all these whales were big adults.
Mahalo,
Claire
Captain Claire’s Humpback 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!

Humpbacks and Spinners Visit Us

Aloha,
What a weekend! We started our sightings on Friday’s Breakfast with the Whales. Throughout the trip, we estimate that we saw spouts from 20 different Humpbacks, but we spent most of our time with two pods. The first was a Mom/very small calf/escort pod. Baby was interested in the boat, and eventually Mom must have decided we weren’t much of a threat because she let him come over to investigate. He spent considerable time looking at us before moving on. We then found a competitive pod of 7 whales. We got to see some breaching, tail lobs and peduncle throws from this group. Interestingly, the whale in the front of the pod for most of the time we were watching (which we assume is the female) had a lot of white markings on her body. She’d be very easy to identify if we see her again before the season is over. On Saturday’s Breakfast with the Whales we found a competitive pod of 7 whales (again) — this pod did not include our white-marked whale from Friday though — who were making a lot of noise on the surface, spouting and trumpeting and splashing. We saw 6 breaches just 40 feet from the boat. We also came across a couple of other pods who were surfacing and spouting. And on Sunday’s 10:00 Whale Watch, we found two different sub-orders of cetaceans — spinner dolphins and Humpbacks. We spent most of our time with the Humpbacks though, watching a quiet Mom/calf pod.
Mahalo,
Claire
Captain Claire’s Humpback 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.

Calves and their Moms

Aloha,
We saw lots of whale calves on our Thursday Whale Watches. On the Breakfast with the Whales Cruise, guests spotted 15 whales within a 3 mile radius of the boat, but we spent most of our time with a pod of 3 – Mom/Baby/Escort. This pod circled our boat a whole bunch of times, so close that we could see the tubercles on their faces (but not so close that we could see the whiskers on their tubercles)! Baby spy-hopped a few times, clearly looking at us too. We also saw 2 breaches within 50 feet of the boat, and when we dropped the hydrophone we heard some great song snippets. On our 10:00 Whale Watch, we had a similar experience and spent most of our time with a different Mom/Baby/Escort pod. And on the Whales and Cocktails Cruise, we found a pretty calm pod of Mom/Baby/Escort. They were just slowly swimming and spouting, until all of a sudden, out of nowhere, the escort did a full breach about 100 yards from the boat! It was one of those rare times that everyone was looking in that direction, so everyone on board got to see it!
Mahalo and have a wonderful weekend. I’ll send the next report out on Monday.
Claire
Captain Claire’s Humpback Fact of the Day: Being mammals, Humpback Whales nurse their calves with a very rich milk. Supposedly this milk tastes like sweet cod liver oil (though I haven’t tried it myself)!

April Whales Still Abundant

Aloha,
The whales are still out there! On our Breakfast with the Whales Cruise, we saw whales in all directions…including pods of Mom/Baby/Escort and a couple of competitive pods. On our 10:00 Whale Watch we saw a total of 5 breaches including one from a calf…two of these breaches were about 100 yards from the boat creating HUGE splashes. We also saw several head lunges and a couple of peduncle throws. Twice we had whales come up less than 100 yards from us. And on the Whales and Cocktails Cruise, the babies were out in full force. We saw lots of pods of Mom/Baby and almost all of these pods were accompanied by an escort (we suspect that in the pods where we didn’t see an escort, he was still around, but just hadn’t surfaced).
Mahalo,
Claire
Captain Claire’s Humpback 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. And just this past November, another white Humpback was spotted off the coast of Norway.

Object of Attention

Aloha,
Our week got off to a great start! On our 10:00 Whale Watch from Kawaihae, Captain Paul reports a very active competitive pod. There were 5 whales involved (at least while we were watching) and they were quite energetic. We all got to see countless pec slaps, tail lobs and peduncle throws, and these whales seemed to be most curious about our boat while it was making noise. When we turned the engines off to drift, the whales took the competition away from us, but as soon as we powered up, they turned back towards us. On the Whales and Cocktails Cruise we found a pod of 7 medium size to really large whales. These whales were really interested in the boat and spent a long time right next to us. We saw several spy hops, lots of pec slaps, and got great views of each of them as they swam underneath the boat from port to starboard and back again. Normally when we see a pod of that many animals, we see lots of competition, and lots of aggression…but this pod just seemed to want to look at our boat.
Mahalo,
Claire
Captain Claire’s Humpback Fact of the DayStarting out as a way to pass time between whale sightings and hunts on the whaling ships in the mid18th century, “scrimshawing” (or the art of carving intricate designs on to whale teeth, bones and baleen) survived until the ban on commercial whaling went into effect. The etched designs were originally produced by sailors using sailing needles, and were colored with candle soot and tobacco juice to bring the designs into view. Today, hobbyists still create scrimshaw — but they use bones and tusks from non-endangered and non-protected animal species like camels, buffalo and even warthogs