Monthly Archives: February 2015

Mugged and Loving It!

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Aloha,
We had an outstanding time on our Wake Up with the Whales Cruise on Thursday. We were barely outside of the bay when we found a very active competitive pod of 5 whales. These humpbacks stayed with us for over an hour, pec slapping, head lunging and peduncle throwing all around us. That was really fun to watch, but then the pod decided to dive underneath us. We couldn’t believe our luck when we got our first glimpse of them below the boat…but it got better. These whales must have found us a good diversion (or maybe they were using us in ways we don’t quite understand) because they mugged us for more than 20 minutes. Eventually they surfaced far enough away that we could maneuver away and head back to the bay. On the way back, a Mom/Baby pod surfaced just over 100 yards from us. Classic.By the afternoon, the action had calmed down quite a bit but we saw more than 20 humpbacks on our Whales and Cocktails Cruise including 3 Mom/Baby/Escort pods. We got some good fluke sightings too.
Mahalo and have a great weekend. I’ll send a recap of the weBreach 2-12ekend’s events on Monday.
Claire

Captain Claire’s Humpback Fact of the Day…just in time for Valentine’s Day! A Humpback Whale has a big heart. An 80,000 pound whale’s heart averages just over 400 pounds, and according to measurements made by the Nelson Institute of Marine Research, beats an average of somewhere between 10 and 30 times per minute.

Scrimshaw

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Aloha,

We faced some challenging weather conditions on Wednesday, and were only able to run one cruise — Wake Up with the Whales. The Humpbacks were definitely out and about, and guests saw some interesting behaviors — lots of flukes, lots of spouts, and lots of splashes from about a dozen different humpbacks including one Mom/Baby pod.
But since we don’t have a lot to report, we can talk about one of the things the whalers used to do to wile away the time between whale sightings and hunts on the whaling ships in the mid-18th century, It’s called “scrimshawing”  and it is the art of carving intricate designs on to whale teeth, bones and baleen. Traditional scrimshawing survived until the ban on commercial whaling went into effect in the mid 1960’s. 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.
If you’ve never seen the artistry, take a look at this image of Scrimshaw from marinearts.com

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Mahalo,
Claire

Babies find us Interesting

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Aloha,

We took two boats out for our Tuesday’s Wake up with the Whales Cruise.  On Seasmoke, we saw lots of humpbacks surfacing and fluke diving, but spent most of our time with a Mom/Baby/Escort pod. Baby surfaced much more frequently than the adults, and at one point, much to our delight, circled our idling boat. On Manu Iwa, we found at least 10 different pods of whales. Most of them were adults, but we did get to see two different Mom/baby pods (both accompanied by escorts). One of these little calves was pretty curious about us and we watched as he kept surfacing closer and closer till Mom finally had enough of it and pushed him away from us. For a grand finale at the end of our charter, a fully grown adult humpback breached just 50 yards from us. We knew he was there, but we sure didn’t know he was going to breach…and that’s why whale watching is so addictive. You just never know what you’re going to see, and even while you’re seeing it, it’s often difficult to believe your eyes.
Claire
 
Captain Claire’s Humpback Fact of the Day: Traditionally, the Hawaiian people did not hunt whales. It may be because they didn’t like the taste of the meat, or it may be because the spirit of the whale was so powerful…But if a toothed whale did end up on a beach (whether it died at sea and was blown ashore, or actually beached itself), only the ali’i (royalty) were allowed to possess any part of the whale. Carvings made from a whale’s tooth called “Niho Palaoa” brought mana (roughly defined as a spiritual force”) to the both the carver and the wearer of the pendant.

Close Up Action

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Aloha,

Our Monday Wake up with the Whales Cruise started out with sightings of lots of whales in the distance, but as the saying goes, “it’s not over till it’s over”. Towards the end of our cruise we got to see two tail lobbers, some pectoral slapping and 5 breaches all within a couple hundred yards of the boat. Guests on the 10:00 Cruise from Kawaihae got to watch a competitive pod of 5 whales for most of the cruise. Though there were whales breaching and splashing everywhere, this group kept our attention. They were quiet at first, and then something spurred them to action and we got to see lots of peduncle throws from them. At one point, they dove under us, and surfaced within 100 feet. We got to see several spy hops within 50 feet of us. When we deployed the hydrophone we heard a symphony of singing too.
Claire
Captain Claire’s Humpback Fact of the Day: When you see the spout from a whale, you’re actually looking at an interesting combination of things. Some of what you’re looking at is condensation from the whales’ lungs (the same thing you’re looking at when you see your own breath after exhaling in a cold environment); some is atomized ocean water (Humpbacks live in a wet world, and there’s always some of the ocean pooled on top of their blow holes when they surface); and…since Humpbacks don’t have cilia in their respiratory tracks (little hairs)…a lot of what you see (and occasionally feel) is actually mucus! Yuck!

Whale Fight Enthralls

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Aloha,

We had a fun weekend despite some periods with less than calm seas. As usual, I won’t recap every cruise we ran since it would make this email too long…but there were Humpbacks everywhere we looked during Friday’s Wake Up with the Whales on Seasmoke. Captain Baker reports seeing 5 breaches, and LOTS of peduncle throws, tail lobs and pec slaps. On Friday’s Whales and Cocktails, we found ourselves surrounded by a competitive pod. The water was pretty rough, but we were enthralled by all the action. We got to see these whales bang into each other, hit each other with their flukes, peduncle throw right on top of each other, and even pec slap each other. We’re normally not violent people, but watching all of this was so exciting.
On Sunday’s 12;30 Cruise from Kawaihae,we saw Humpbacks in all directions, including a very active competitive pod, and a younger whale who breached and then head lunged 5 times in a row On our Whales & Cocktails Cruise, Mom and baby were waiting for us at the mouth of the bay. And later in the cruise, we were mugged for more than 20 minutes by two adult Humpbacks who hung out right underneath the stern!
Mahalo,
Claire
Captain Claire’s Humpback Fact of the Day: Those lines we see under the Humpback’s mouth are actually pleats that allow for the expansion of her mouth when she feeds. This expansion, combined with her ability to flex her jaws, allows her to hold up to 15,000 gallons of sea water in her mouth at one time — that’s the equivalent of 160,000 cans of Diet Pepsi (or Budweiser) in every gulp — of course, she doesn’t swallow the water she gulps…just the unlucky fish that had been swimming in it.

Peduncles Perplex

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Aloha,

We woke up to rain and blustery winds on Thursday, which meant we weren’t able to take our guests on any morning whale watch cruises. We did get to go out for the Whales and Cocktails Cruise though, and it seemed like the humpbacks were happy to see us. We saw spouts in every direction we looked. For awhile, it seemed like all the action must be taking place below the surface because all we saw were whales surfacing, taking a few breaths, and then diving again. But it’s February now — height of the season for whale watching off our coast — so it wasn’t long before we got to see some breaching from a few adult humpbacks. We also saw tail lobs and peduncle throws. We found a couple of different Mom/Baby pods — both accompanied by escorts. And lots of pods of two and three adult Humpbacks charging around on the surface.
Have a great weekend — I’ll send out a recap on Monday!
Claire
Peduncle

​Captain Claire’s Humpback Fact of the Day: I was at the airport Thursday afternoon, when a guest from one of last week’s Whale Watch cruises who apparently recognized me even though I wasn’t dressed in my Ocean Sports uniform walked over and said, “I just can’t remember…what was that word you used to describe the back of the whale”?  I answered that we call the region between the whales’ flukes and his main body, a “peduncle”…but why? So I looked it up. The word “peduncle” comes from the Latin word “ped” which means foot. It was first used to describe the stalk of a flower, fruit, or tumor. I guess that makes sense…the back part of the whale does sort of look like a stalk, bearing the whale’s wide flukes.

Windy Weather But Great Sightings

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It was a windy day on the water on Wednesday, so we weren’t able to run most of our cruises, but guests joining us on our 8:00 Wake Up with the Whales had a great time watching a baby breach. Those calves always look so cute and uncoordinated to us. We also saw another Mom/Baby pod, and 8 or 9 other adult HumpbacksHumpback Blowholes

On our 10:00 Cruise from Kawaihae we got to witness a wide variety of behaviors. Just out of the harbor we encountered a sub-adult humpback who was kind of curious about us. This whale spent some time checking us out as we all got a good view of him (or her — we couldn’t tell). This whale was joined by another whale and they must have felt a little bit of animosity towards each other because one of them started peduncle throwing. Later in the cruise we got to see 6 consecutive breaches —  some by Mom, and some by her calf. We also saw lots of spouts and flukes of whales close to the shoreline…and lots more breaching by whales out to sea in the wind.

Aloha
Claire
 
Captain Claire’s Humpback Fact of the Day: An average size adult Humpback has 2 oval shaped blowholes that measure about 9 inches in diameter (on the bigger part of the oval). The whales use them like you use your nostrils, exhaling through both before inhaling. If an average size human had nostril openings in the same proportion to his size as a whale’s blowholes are to the whale’s body size, each human nostril would measure about an inch and a quarter in diameter (I just measured my own, and they’re only about 7/16ths of an inch wide — the things we do for science…).

Double Breach…and One Whale Breaches 8 Times

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Aloha,

Have you ever seen a double breach? Lucky guests aboard Tuesday’s Wake Up With the Whales Cruise on Seasmoke got to see this very exciting surface activity about midway through our cruise. We were watching Mom and her baby being chased by two male Humpbacks when all of a sudden Mom and one of the escorts breached simultaneously right next to some kayakers. The splash they created actually hid the kayakers from our view — we could only imagine what they must have been thinking when these big whales erupted out of the water together.After that, baby breached about 4 times, and head lunged a few more times. We also got a couple of very close encounters when Humpbacks decided to surface off our port stern. Our 10:00 Whale Watch on Alala started with a huge breach just after we had left the harbor. When a cruise starts that good, everything else we see just adds to the excitement. We found a very small calf on this cruise, swimming and diving down to Mom…and we also saw some tail lobbing from another adult Humpback. On our Whales and Cocktails Cruise out of Kawaihae, we got to see a Cow/Calf/Escort close to the boat, but the grand finale was watching a big adult Humpback breach 8 times!
Mahalo,
Claire
Captain Claire’s Humpback Fact of the Day: Researchers off the coast of Brazil have discovered that some marine mammals including Humpbacks may have up to 14 spleens. Among other functions, the spleen stores red blood cells (which store oxygen)…so an extra spleen may help a deep diving animal stay underwater longer. These spleens can contract during a dive, releasing fresh blood with oxygenated red blood cells to keep the whale’s important organs alive and functioning. 14 spleens?! Amazing.

Singing and Breaching

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Aloha,

We started out the week with a double boat Wake Up with the Whales. Both Manu Iwa and Seasmoke departed from Anaeho’omalu Bay at around the same time, so you’d think all of us would have had the same experience. But of course, we didn’t…guests aboard both boats saw spouts from more than 2 dozen whales, but Captain Jeff chose to take Seasmoke out to a competitive pod about a mile outside of the Hilton. We got to see some great peduncle throws and a couple of pec slaps and tail lobs from this pod of 3. We then found two different Mom/Baby/Escort pods. Captain Will took Manu Iwa to the south, and guests also got to spend some quality time with a Mom/Baby/Escort pod. Lots of whales around the boat were breaching — they weren’t super close, but we definitely got to see more than just the splash. And when each boat deployed our hydrophone, we got to hear some very clear and loud singing.
By the time we departed for the Whales and Cocktails Cruise, the wind had come up. We only were able to stay out for an hour, but we got to see 13 different whales (or splashes from the whales). As is usual on a very windy ocean there was lots of breaching, peduncle throwing and tail lobbing going on. Even though we saw a lot and it was really pretty exciting, since we did have to come in early we invited our guests to come back again for no charge.
Mahalo,
Claire
Captain Claire’s Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: Most Humpbacks are “right-handed”. Researchers looking at abrasions on Humpbacks’ jaws found more abrasions on the right jaw than on the left, and observed more “flippering” with the right flipper than with the left, suggesting a definite right-side preference among the Humpback population.

 

When a Mugging is a Good Thing

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Aloha,

We had a great weekend of whale watching. With so many cruises, there’s no way I can recap everything, but here are a few highlights. On Friday’s Wake up With the Whales Cruise on Seasmoke, we got to watch a pod of three whales twisting and turning around each other on the surface. For awhile, two of them were obviously belly to belly and then one was on top of the other — were they mating? On the Whales and Cocktails Cruise on Manu Iwa, we saw two different Mom/Baby/Escort pods. One of the escorts breached three times when he was just 30 feet from our idling boat. We also got mugged by the second pod for more than 30 minutes. All day long, we were seeing whale spouts in every direction.
On Saturday’s 8:00 am Cruise from Anaeho’omalu Bay, Captain Jake had a choice to make when we left the bay. We saw spouts in pretty much every direction, but we went south, and it paid off. We spent most of our time with a competitive pod of 4 whales who were charging around on the surface. We got to see the differences between the shapes of their flukes…and also got to see a bit of a fight. The whales didn’t seem to care that we were idling in the area as they milled about, changing directions, and even surfacing about 30 feet from us and charging towards us before diving. We also saw a whale from a different pod tail-lob 13 times before tiring out, and lots of lunges and peduncle throws from whales further in the distance. On the 12:30 Cruise, lucky guests got to see a whale breach 15 times right in front of the boat, and on the Whales and Cocktails, we were mugged for a good ten minutes by two curious whales who kept surfacing  just 10 feet away from our idling boat.
On each of Sunday’s cruises we saw spouts from more than 2 dozen Humpbacks. On Manu Iwa’s 8:00 Wake up with the Whales Cruise, we all enjoyed the antics of several different calves, but we were totally blown away when one baby approached the boat at the end of the charter. Not only did mom let him come within about 50 feet of us, but she surfaced too…and then one of our guests on the starboard bow noticed a shadow in the water. It turned out to be the escort who cruised under us just 10 feet below the surface. We all got a great look at him as he passed below the hulls. On our special 11:00 Educational Cruise, the Girl Scouts from Ke’eau, and some high school kids from HPA got to see lots of breaching, peduncle throwing and tail lobbing from some very energetic adult whales. We also got to see a couple of yearlings close up when they cruised by our idling boat.
Hope your weekend was as nice as ours!
Mahalo,
Claire
Captain Claire’s Humpback Fact of the Day: According to research conducted by the Nelson Institute of Marine Research, a Humpback’s heart beats an average of 40 bpm, but the whales do experience periods of tachycardia and bradycardia (faster than normal and slower than normal heart rates) during dives.