Category Archives: Dolphin Sightings and Statistics

Lone Humpbacks and Spinners

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Aloha,
Our weekend of whale watching was really pretty good for the beginning of the season…Highlights included Saturday’s Whales and Cocktails cruise where we found a lone Humpback about 3 miles off shore of Anaeho’omalu Bay. The whale seemed kind of interested in us as he cruised parallel to us for about 30 minutes. At one point, he surfaced about 20 yards from the boat! And on Sunday’s 10:00 Whale Watch, we started the morning with a pod of Spinner Dolphins just outside of the harbor. As is often the case, as soon as the dolphins sensed and heard the boat, they came right over to investigate (and play). We saw a lot of spins and leaps, and watched them surf our bow wake for about 15 minutes. Towards the end of this trip, we found a smaller Humpback (about 30 feet long) who surfaced a few times relatively near us…and then BREACHED! And later in the day, on our Whales & Cocktails cruise we found a lone whale again who spent some time with us, mostly just cruising parallel to our boat.
 
Join us on any of our Whale Watch Cruises departing daily! Call us at (808)886-6666 ext. 103 or visit HawaiiOceanSports.com to reserve your adventure today.
 
Mahalo,
Claire
 
Captain Claire’s Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: Humpback Whales and Spinner Dolphins are actually related — they’re both classified under the scientific order of “Cetacean”. But they’re in different sub-orders. Humpbacks are baleen whales, classified in the sub-order called “Mysticete” (which translates from a Greek word that means “mustached”). Spinner Dolphins are classified as toothed whales, in the sub-order “Odontocete. The word “Odontocete” translates from another Greek word and refers to the teeth these whales have in their mouths.
 

Migrations – Horizontal and Vertical!

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Aloha,
It’s been another great week for Dolphin Watching on the Kohala Coast! Our favorite day last week had to have been Thursday, when we not only saw a pod of Spinners on our Dolphin Watch Adventure, but we encountered them again on our Moku Nui Sunset Sail. Both times we first saw the pod as we exited Kawaihae Harbor. Both times, the pod numbered between 75-100 animals, and both times, the pod stayed with us for at least 45 minutes. On the morning Dolphin Watch Adventure, as soon as the pod heard us exit the harbor, they swam over to investigate. We loved watching the dolphins play lazily in our bow and stern wakes as we motored slowly to the north. On the evening Moku Nui Sunset Sail, we were actually under sail, but the dolphins seemed to enjoy our speed as they accompanied us along the coast line. We saw a lot of end-over-end flips, and lots of spins!
Join us Tuesday for our next scheduled Dolphin Watch Adventure departing from Kawaihae Harbor at 8:00 am, or on Wednesday, departing from Kauna’oa Beach fronting the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel!
Dolphin Fact of the Day: Spinner Dolphins spend their night time hours feeding out in the open ocean on fish and squid that follow a nocturnal vertical migratory route. During daylight hours, the prey descends, and the Spinners “migrate” horizontally towards shore to rest in shallow bays. The pod of dolphins we encountered in the early morning hours last Thursday was relaxing after dinner. By the time we saw them in the late afternoon, they were beginning their evening wake-up ritual (lots more jumping and spinning – especially from the smaller adolescents) prior to “going out to dinner”.
Mahalo,
Captain Claire

Echelon Swimming

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Aloha,
Sunday’s calm winds brought guests aboard our Dolphin Watch Adventure a spectacular encounter with the Spinner Dolphins. We first encountered the pod of about 50 dolphins near “Frog Rock”…which is north of Kawaihae Harbor near Kohala Ranch. The pod was pretty mellow, but swam over to check us out. We kept on a steady course, and the dolphins seemed to enjoy our wake (both bow wake and stern wake) as we motored slowly down the coast. The pod stayed with us for about an hour…all the way to Spencer Beach Park. We especially enjoyed watching the two tiny calves as they swam alongside Mom’s head, and tried to mimic everything the adults were doing.
Join us on our next scheduled Dolphin Watch Adventure departing from Kawaihae Harbor on Alala tomorrow (Tuesday). Call 886-6666 ext. 103 for information and reservations.
Dolphin Fact of the Day: For the first week of a dolphin’s life, he’s usually seen swimming near his Mom’s head…this is called “echelon swimming” and probably allows the baby to ride the pressure wave produced by Mom as she swims. Older calves are often found swimming nearer Mom’s dorsal fin. Researchers think this position allows the baby to keep up with Mom by “drafting”.
Mahalo,
Captain Claire

Dolphins at Red Hill

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Aloha,
Yesterday’s Dolphin Watch Adventure departed from Kawaihae at 8:00 am and in less than 30 minutes, guests aboard the boat were delighted when a huge (probably close to a hundred) pod of dolphins approached our boat while we were cruising the coast near the area we call “Red Hill”. We know there are a lot of “Red Hills” around the islands, and this one is on the Kohala Coast just  south west of Kohala Ranch. Interestingly, during the Humpback Whale season, we seem to encounter whales off this landmark so frequently that it makes us wonder what makes the landmark attractive to our cetacean friends. We know there’s no predictable current right there, and we’ve been scuba diving right along the shoreline there and haven’t seen any underwater topographical distinctions…but whatever it is, the whales, and yesterday, the dolphins frequent the area often.
Yesterday’s aerial action was pretty interesting with countless arcuate leaps, spins and even lots of back flips. The dolphins seemed to enjoy taking turns riding the bow wake, and we enjoyed listening to them spouting and whistling.
Join us on our next Dolphin Watch Adventure, departing at 8:00 am from Kawaihae tomorrow!
Dolphin Fact of the Day: The gestation period for Spinners is around 11 months, and the dolphin calf can nurse from its mother for as long as 2 years, though often after the first year the calf is weaned.
Mahalo,
Captain Claire

Spinner Dolphins perform Arcuate Leaps

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Aloha,
With all the Black Sand Picnic Snorkel Adventures we’ve been running lately, we’ve only been able to operate two Dolphin Watch Adventures in the past week. They each departed from Anaeho’omalu Bay on Manu Iwa. This past Thursday (6/7) we found a pod of Spinner Dolphins just north of the bay. It was a fairly large pod (we estimate about 80 animals) and they enjoyed having the boat around to play with. In fact, as we ran parallel to the pod, many of them decided to come over to us to play in our bow wake and investigate the boat. We really enjoyed watching them watch us as they swam along side. We saw some cool spins and flips from some of the pod off to our port side, and lots of “arcuate” leaps. On Sunday, 6/10 we didn’t see any dolphins but we did have a great time snorkeling.
Our next Dolphin Watch Adventures are scheduled for tomorrow (Tuesday, 6/12) and Thursday, 6/14. Both trips will depart from Anaeho’omalu Bay at 8:00 on Manu Iwa.
Dolphin Fact of the Week:  The arc-shaped leaps dolphins make through the air while swim quickly are called “arcuate leaps”. Researchers suggest the dolphins choose to leap through the air as a way to increase efficiency and speed. When leaping, the dolphin is able to beat her tail once or twice in the water while the front part of her body is in the less dense air, allowing her to take advantage of the reduced drag on the parts of her body not in the water. When a dolphin wants to move quickly, it may actually be easier for her to swim through the air than through the water!
Mahalo,
Captain Claire