Mugged and Breaches

Aloha,
Guests aboard our 10:00 Whale Watch from Kawaihae got to see more than 28 different Humpbacks. It was another very calm day, so we could spouts and dives and dorsal fins from miles away. We didn’t have to travel far before we saw our first spout though, as a Humpback was spouting and tail lobbing just outside of the harbor. After watching that whale for a few minutes, we saw more splashing from a pod of two a bit further south, so we headed in that direction. One of the whales in this pod did a few peduncle throws (most likely directed at the other whale). We also got to see pectoral slaps, and lots of tail lobs. Later in the cruise, we saw a very small spout, so we turned and watched a pod of Mom and baby resting on the surface. Well actually, it was mom who was doing most of the resting – baby was twisting and turning, and tail lobbing and diving – she even spy-hopped to take a look at us. After a few minutes of watching this, the escort surfaced, and Mom quickly put herself between the escort and the baby. We finally had to head back, but not before a pod of about 40 Spinner Dolphins found the Mom/Baby/Escort pod. Some of the dolphins made a b-line right towards the whales, riding the Humpbacks’ bow wakes, and the rest of the dolphins did the same thing with our boat. It was really fun to watch part of the dolphin pod leap all around the whales, while the others played with us.
And on our Whales and Cocktails Cruise, we had a full breach on one side of the boat and a mugging by two whales on the other side. We saw some great fluke dives from the muggers – and when whales dive so close to you, it makes you realize how wide their flukes really are. We also saw some very close-by pec slaps.
Mahalo,
Claire
Captain Claire’s Humpback Fact of the Day: Humpback whales can’t cry — they don’t have tear ducts (they don’t need them — their eyes are always bathe d in salt water) but they do have glands on their outer corneas which secrete an oily substance that helps to protect their eyes from debris in the ocean.

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