Tag Archives: baleen

Humpback Changes Her Mind

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Aloha,

We took out two boats for Thursday’s Wake up with the Whales Cruises. On Seasmoke, we got to watch a humpback change her mind about us. In the beginning of the cruise, we saw a couple of spouts and headed out towards a Cow/Calf pod. When we got in the vicinity and stopped the boat, baby came right over to us…followed by Mom. They stayed with us for 20 minutes, mugging us. Mom finally had enough of it, and did a peduncle throw towards the boat, pushing baby away with her head. We stayed in the area, and about 20 minutes later, they both surfaced right next to us (apparently she thought we were ok again) and then swam quietly past. On the way back to the bay we got to see a couple of breaches from other whales. Guests joining us on Manu Iwa got to see spouts from 7 different whales. We spend a good 15 minutes watching a Mom and her calf resting quietly on the surface. We also had a relatively close encounter when a BIG lone whale surfaced about 50 yards off our bow. The ocean was really calm, allowing us to deploy our hydrophone and listen to quite a few singers fairly close by. On our 10:00 Signature Whale Watch from Kawaihae we got to watch a very active calf. This little guy breached so many times right near the boat that we lost count. Mom let him come right over to us (we almost could have touched him he was so close).
Have a wonderful weekend. I’ll be sending out the weekend recap on Monday.
Mahalo,
Claire

Hum pback Breach

This image is courtesy of guest Stephanie Collier from her March 29th Whale Watch Cruise with us

Captain Claire’s Humpback Fact of the Day: You probably already know this, but Humpback Whales don’t have teeth – they have baleen. What you might not already know is that Humpbacks have approximately 270 – 400 pairs of baleen plates hanging from the top palate of their mouths ranging in length from a foot to about 3 feet long. Where the baleen is attached to the palate, it feels like a horse’s hoof — but it fringes out to form dense mats allowing the whale to “strain the soup of the ocean” when feeding. Humpback baleen is black.

Baleen Revisited

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Aloha,
I hope everyone had a good week!
As the winds diminished on Monday, we had some great Whale Watch Cruises. On our Breakfast with the Whales, we saw multiple Mom/Baby/Escort pods – lots of spouting and fluke diving too. On our 10:00 Cruise, we saw more than one competitive pod with the kinds of surface activity you’d expect from male whales in close proximity of each other. We also saw lots of HUGE splashes from surface activity occurring all around us. As more and more Humpbacks leave Hawaii in March, it seems like the whales that are left here are getting more and more desperate to find a mate (or several mates), so the battles between them get more intense. On the Whales and Cocktails Cruise, we enjoyed some time with a Mom/Baby/Escort pod, but saw lots of other flukes and spouts too.
Mahalo,
Claire
Captain Claire’s Humpback Fact of the Day: Humpback Whales don’t have teeth — they have approximately 270 – 400 pairs of baleen plates hanging from the top palate of their mouths ranging in length from a foot to about 3 feet long. Where the baleen is attached to the palate, it feels like a horse’s hoof — but it fringes out to form dense mats allowing the whale to “strain the soup of the ocean” when feeding. And in case you’re curious, Humpback baleen is black.

Baleen…what it really is…and lots of Close Encounters

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Aloha,
Our weekend of whale watching was wonderful (sorry for the alliteration). Highlights included Friday’s Breakfast with the Whales, where we saw 7 whales and one breach in the distance. We also found a huge pod of Spinner Dolphins travelling south towards Keawaiki. That evening, guests aboard our Champagne Sunset Sail were delighted to see two Humpbacks just as the sun was setting…and they even breached for us. On Saturday’s Breakfast with the Whales, we saw 4 whales…two of them appeared to be juveniles (based on their sizes), and like kids of every species, they were pretty curious about their surroundings. Luckily for us, they approached us twice! On our 10:00 Whale Watch from Kawaihae we saw 5 Humpbacks and lots of Spinner Dolphins. On Sunday’s Breakfast with the Whales, Ryan, our on board naturalist reports 2 whales just south of Anaeho’omalu, chasing each other around. At one point they swam right under the boat and then stayed near us for about 15 minutes. They swam away…but turned back and gave us another close encounter. Guests had a similar experience on our 10:00 Whale Watch when 3 whales swam right under our boat. They were close enough to the surface that we could see their outlines perfectly. We ended the weekend with 4 whales on our Whales and Cocktails Cruise. These 4 did swim by closely enough that we could see the barnacles on their flukes!
 
Join Ocean Sports on any of our 3 daily Whale Watch Cruises. Call (808)886-6666 ext. 103 or visit HawaiiOceanSports.com to reserve your adventure today.
 
Aloha,
Claire
 
Captain Claire’s Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: Humpback Whales don’t have teeth —they have approximately 270 – 400 pairs of baleen plates hanging from the top palate of their mouths ranging in length from a foot to about 3 feet long. Where the baleen is attached to the palate, it feels like a horse’s hoof — but it fringes out to form dense mats allowing the whale to “strain the soup of the ocean” when feeding.

Almost too many to count!

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Aloha,
We had some great times the past few days watching the Humpbacks along the Kohala Coast! On Friday, both our 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales cruise out of Anaeho’omalu and our 10:00 Whale Watch out of Kawaihae reported seeing 5 different Humpbacks. Each boat reported seeing breaches (8:00 guests saw 4, and the 10:00 guests saw 2) but the guests aboard the 3:00 Whales and Cocktails trip reported an astounding 25 breaches from 2 whales about 200 yards from the boat. Even Captain Will, who has been running charters for more than 30 years was so excited he could barely describe the action! On Saturday, the 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales cruise reports seeing 14 Humpbacks, and the 10:00 Whale Watch reports seeing 11 Humpbacks. Both boats were approached by whales, and both boats report some pretty loud and clear singing. Sunday’s 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales trip reports seeing 25 different whales with 7 breaches, and on our 10:00 Whale Watch, guests saw only 13 Humpbacks, but they report seeing 28 tail lobs, 6 peduncle throws and 3 breaches. What a show! Of course we have to save the best for last…   the final trip of the weekend was the 3:00 Whales and Cocktails, where 27 different whales were seen, and guests counted 7 breaches, 15 tail slaps, 3 head lunges, 2 pec slaps and some “motor boating’ — that’s what we call it when the whales are travelling near the surface of the water with their massive heads angled up, creating an actual wake…it’s generally an aggressive behavior for the Humpbacks.
Join Ocean Sports on any of our daily Whale Watch trips for a guaranteed adventure – our morning Whale Watches even guarantee sightings — See Humpbacks, or ride again for free! Call us at 886-6666 ext. 103 or visit www.hawaiioceansports.com to reserve your spot today.
Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: Humpback Whales don’t have teeth — they have approximately 270 – 400 pairs of baleen plates hanging from the top palate of their mouths ranging in length from a foot to about 3 feet long. Where the baleen is attached to the palate, it feels like a horse’s hoof — but it fringes out to form dense mats allowing the whale to “strain the soup of the ocean” when feeding.
Mahalo,
Captain Claire