Tag Archives: calf

Friday the 13th brings Good Luck to Whale Watchers

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Aloha,

Friday the 13th didn’t live up to its reputation for guests aboard our first cruise of the day. On Friday’s Wake up with the Whales on Manu Iwa, guests enjoyed smooth waters and a couple of surprise visits from two different curious sub-adult Humpbacks. The first time we were idling with the hydrophone in the water listening to a symphony of songs when a whale popped up about 50 feet from us and swam right alongside the hull. The second time, we were idling again, waiting for some whales we had seen dive to resurface. This whale also popped up next to us to take a look at a bunch of very excited whale watchers who were taking a look at him too!
We were able to run our 10:00 Whale Watch from Kawaihae on Friday too before the wind picked up. Guests aboard Alala got to see two different calves…we found the first one in in the beginning of the cruise accompanied by a very large mom and escort. This little guy was really young — we could clearly see his bent over dorsal fin. At the end of the cruise we got to watch a very active calf breach over and over again. But we had plenty to watch in between these sightings…lots of tail lobs and breaches from various adults who were hanging out in the wind line.
We weren’t able to run cruises on Saturday due to the stormy conditions, but Sunday’s cruises provided some great sightings. Lots of Mom/Baby/Escort pods…lots of competitive pods…and lots of surface activity. When the weather cooperates, you just can’t beat February for whale watching off the Kohala Coast!
Claire
 
Captain Claire’s Humpback Fact of the Day: Biopsy samples taken from South Pacific Humpbacks show a ratio of 2.4 males for every female on the breeding grounds. A similar ratio has been observed in Hawaii. This suggests either: 1). female Humpbacks can afford to be choosy with their mating partner; or; 2). female Humpbacks are overwhelmed by aggressive males and bullied into mating.

Breaching, Head Lunging and Pec Slapping

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Aloha,

Friday started out especially well for guests on our 10:00 Whale Watch from Kawaihae. Throughout the cruise, we saw a total of 8 different Humpbacks, but one of them — not fully grown, but not a calf — decided to breach 3 times just 120 yards from the boat. We all got to see those breaches, and a few of us got some great photos (hopefully someone will share with us). We also had a curious whale surface 50 yards in front of the boat while we were idling. After he dove, we sat in the same place for a long time, and lo and behold, the same whale surfaced at our stern. On Friday’s Whales and Cocktails, we found ourselves surrounded for awhile by 4 competitive whales. These guys were posturing for each other, trumpeting, pec-slapping, and even breaching. We saw 4 other whales during this cruise too, but we couldn’t take our eyes off the action from our first pod.
The highlight of Saturday’s 10:00 Cruise was a competitive pod of 5 whales. We watched them chase each other around, and saw some great head lunges and fluke dives before two of the group split off, dissolving the competition.
And on Sunday, we ran 4 cruises just for Whale Watching as well as our Snorkel and Sunset Cruises. We saw whales from all of the cruises. Highlights included sightings of 6 different Humpbacks during our Wake up With the Whales Cruise, a very young calf (with folded over dorsal fin) off shore of Hapuna Beach on our 10:00 Cruise, a big competitive pod with breaches and pec slaps on that same cruise, two whales who decided to swim underneath our idling boat on our way to the snorkel sight during our Snorkel Cruise, and sightings of 15 different whales on our Whales and Cocktails Cruise (including two breaches).
Mahalo,
Claire
 
Captain Claire’s Humpback Fact of the Day: We used to think that the whales that arrived on the coast of the Big Island spent their Hawaii-time here with us. Research and close observation of individuals has proven us wrong. While the Humpbacks seem to prefer to spend most of their time on the lee sides of islands and in water less than 600 feet deep, they will travel between the islands (not in any particular direction that we’re aware of)….females who have calves travel less frequently though.

Mugged Again

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Aloha,
Thursday’s Breakfast with the Whales was a LOT of fun. We’re still seeing lots of blows in all directions, and we’re still seeing lots of calves. On this trip we found 3 different Mom/Calf pods including one pod with a very, very small calf. This pod spent a good 15 minutes right next to our boat. We all got to watch baby rolling around and off of mom’s head (which must be a pretty fun game if you’re a baby whale). We also saw quite a bit of Mom, until she decided to dive under her baby…and then surprise all of us with 2 complete breaches about 15 yards from the boat! When we deployed the hydrophone, we heard some very clear and loud singing. We also saw a lot of other breaches somewhat further away from the boat. The rest of the day was equally great, with lots of blows, fluke dives, Mom/Calf/Escort pods and competitive pods. We did see some pec slaps and head lunges from one very active calf, and some breaches from a couple of adults. We also saw peduncle throws and tail lobs from some competitive adults.
Mahalo and have a great weekend! I’ll send out a weekend recap on Monday.
Claire
Captain Claire’s Humpback Fact of the Day: Being mammals, Humpbacks have belly buttons – in case you’re wondering….they’re “innies”.

Wild Times on the Water

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Aloha,
We had a wild show on Tuesday’s 10:00 Whale Watch. We found a competitive pod of 8 whales right off of Puako. We’re guessing it was composed of one female and 7 males…but we suppose it could have been just 8 competitive males. Regardless, we watched this group for our entire whale watch. We saw lots of trumpeting, lots of whales shoving other whales around, bubble blowing, chin lifts, peduncle throws and well…the ocean was churning from all their surface activity. It’s exhausting just trying to recount this…we can only imagine how exhausted the whales must be feeling! And on our Whales and Cocktails Cruise, our onboard naturalist Angelica, reports that it was the best trip of her life! Leaving the bay, we saw what we thought was a competitive pod because we could see lots of splashing. As we approached, we realized it was a Cow/Calf/Escort pod. The adults were acting really aggressively towards each other…lots of chasing, lunging, and trumpeting, and it appeared to us that the poor little calf was just trying to stay out of the way. Apparently in the midst of all this chasing around, Mom saw our boat because she turned right towards us, leading the male to us too. All three of them spent the next hour swimming back and forth from side to side and bow to stern under the boat. At one point one of the adults did a tail lob so close to the stern that it splashed all of us! Baby seemed to like looking at the boat (very curious)…and as we watched this incredible show, the whole boat was rocking from the waves these whales were creating. The other interesting thing we noticed was as these whales spent more and more time using our boat for whatever purpose they were using it, they did seem to calm down a bit. We’re not sure if they were getting tired or just found us to be an interesting diversion.
Mahalo,
Claire
Captain Claire’s Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: The maternal instinct of the Humpback is so strong that she’ll even take care of other small animals in danger! In 2009, 2 scientists sailing off the coast of South America watched as a pod of Orcas flipped a Weddell Seal off an ice flow. The seal began swimming towards a nearby Humpback. Just as the seal got close, the whale rolled onto her back, sweeping the 400 pound seal onto her chest. As the Orcas closed in, the Humpback arched her back, which lifted the seal out of the water…unfortunately for the seal, the water rushing off the whale started to wash the seal back into the sea. The scientists were astounded to see the Humpback use her flipper to gently nudge the floundering seal back onto her chest…moments later, the seal slid back into the water and swam to the safety of a nearby ice flow.

Young Calves and Lots of Escorts

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Aloha,

We started our weekend with some strange stormy weather on Friday. On our Breakfast with the Whales Cruise, we spent most of our time with a Mom/Baby/Escort pod. Baby led Mom right up to the boat a few times, and though the baby seemed pretty big and had a fairly straight dorsal fin (indicating he was not a new-born) both Mom and the Escort were fairly small (by Humpback standards), suggesting to us that they were both fairly young. We did see some head lunging about 800 yards from us too. On the 10:00 Whale Watch, we saw 15 different Humpbacks, and 4 different Mom/Baby pods.
On Saturday’s Breakfast With the Whales we saw every behavior we could hope for on a whale watch including multiple breaches from a very energetic calf, adult tail lobs and peduncle throws, pec slaps, and even some adult breaches!
And on Sunday’s Breakfast with the Whales, we found 3 different Mom/Baby/Escort pods, including one with a very, very small calf. Each of these pods decided to swing by the boat, so we had some great close encounters. We also saw a double breach from two adult whales (always exciting) and towards the end of the cruise we found a competitive pod who were doing a lot of trumpeting, head lunges and bubble blowing beneath the surface. At one point we were downwind from a spout and it really smelled kind of horrible. We finished the weekend of Whale Watching with a Whales and Cocktail Cruise from Anaeho’omalu Bay. We got to see several Mom/Calf pods, and they got to see us too (we had lots of close encounters). We also saw a lot of tail lobbing, breaching, and peduncle throws. And when we dropped our hydrophone into the water, we were surprised by the clarity of the songs we heard. Oh…and at the end of the day, the sun came out again, making for a beautiful end to the weekend.
Mahalo,
Claire
Captain Claire’s Humpback Whale Fact of the Day:  According to research conducted in Japan, the peak estrus period for Humpbacks (i.e. when females are in heat) overall, is between the end of January and the end of February, but the peak estrus period for females with a calf appears to be several weeks later. Our frequent observations of pods of Mom and Baby who are accompanied by an escort this time of year seem to support the validity of these findings.

A New Year and a New Calf

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Aloha,
Our 2013 Whale Watches began with sightings of 5 different Humpbacks on our Breakfast with the Whales Cruise. We also saw a breach off in the distance on this cruise. On our 10:00 Whale Watch on Alala, we were delighted to see 2 whales…Mom and her baby. Our onboard naturalist Jonathan reports that the calf was very young – perhaps just a few days old, since it was still very grey and still had the natal folds indicative of a newborn (when the baby slides out of its mom’s birth canal, he’s really wrinkled from his time in the womb – it takes several days for the wrinkles to smooth out). This little calf was very active too…performing 3 tail lobs and 2 little pectoral slaps. Since Mom and baby were just over 100 yards from the boat, we also got to see the little guy’s head poke out of the water a few times as he tried to get a better look at us! We finished the day with our Whales and Cocktails Cruise, where everyone enjoyed seeing spouts and flukes from several different whales.
 
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Mahalo,
Claire
 
Captain Claire’s Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: The gestation period for a Humpback whale is between 10 and 11 months, which means the calves we’re seeing this year were conceived last winter.