Tag Archives: Close Encounter

Competition on the Lek

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Aloha,
Our weekend of whale watching was windy again…on Friday, it was so windy in fact that the only cruise that went out was a private Whale Watch from 8:00 – 10:00. Guests braving the 35 + knots of wind did see some fun stuff though, including 3 separate pods of cow/calf/escort and breaches from the adults and the calves.
On Saturday and Sunday we were able to run all our cruises but the highlights included sightings of 25 different humpbacks on Saturday’s 10:00 Whale Watch, including 4 different Mom/Baby/Escort pods. At one point we watched as one of these babies dove under her mom (nursing maybe?). At the end of this trip, we found a competitve pod of 7 males chasing a female with her baby. This group was really active, head lunging, bubble blowing, jaw clapping, trumpeting…and they brought their chase right by the boat.
On Sunday’s 10:00 Whale Watch, we saw 14 different Humpbacks. This trip started with some big tail lobs and pec slaps by a couple of big adults. After that we found a curious Mom/Baby pod who cruised back and forth under us a couple of times. Then we found a competitive pod and got to see some huge peduncle throws, a couple of breaches and some head lunging from them. We went right back out again at 12:30 and found the same Mom/Baby we had seen on the first trip right below Kohala Ranch. Once again, Mom let her baby approach us to get a good look, and they both swam under us and around us a couple of times. After that, we found another competitive pod and got to see some motorboating and head lunges from them. And to top it off, accompanying this pod of Humpbacks, we saw 4 pygmy killer whales (a pretty rare sight for us)!
Mahalo,
Claire
Captain Claire’s Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: Researchers note that female Humpbacks in the North Pacific population are seen with their first calf when they’re between 8 and 16 years old (the mean age is 11.8). In the North Atlantic, female Humpbacks give birth for the first time when they’re between 5 and 7 years old.

Cavorting Calves All Weekend Long

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Aloha,
We saw way too much this past weekend to recap all of it…so here’s a few highlights. On Friday’s Breakfast with the Whales, we saw 23 different whales, but really enjoyed watching a pod of 3 who seemed to be rolling around on top of each other. These whales came up vertically out of the water belly-to-belly a couple of times and though we didn’t see their eyes, the posture was very much like a spy hop. They also twisted and turned on the surface, and one of them pec slapped 13 times (we know that because one of our second-grade age guests kept the count for all of us). This whale also did a few complete roll-overs at the surface slapping each of his pec fins as he twisted. On the Alala on Friday, we ran two trips and saw 15 whales the first time, and 20 the second. The highlight of each of those trips was the close encounters with pods of Mom/Baby/Escort who decided to swim under our boat to check us out!
Saturday’s Whale Watches were much the same, with lots of energetic calves playing all around us. One of our favorite moments was watching a calf literally rolling around on top of Mom’s rostrum, slapping his pectoral fins (in delight?). We also loved watching a very young calf (with a completely bent over dorsal fin) attempting a couple of breaches and head lunges. We also had a couple of very close encounters with Mom/Baby/Escort pods. Each time, the baby seemed to lead the way over to us, and each time Mom actually kept herself between the baby and the escort, allowing baby to surface nearer to us. And on the Whales and Cocktails, we saw 25 different whales – no competitive pods, but plenty of Mom/Baby/Escort pods. We saw 20 adult breaches on this trip and 16 calf breaches along with lots of head lunges and tail lobs.
On Sunday’s Breakfast with the Whales, we saw 18 different Humpbacks and had an extremely close encounter with  a curious Humpback who swam around the boat a few times to take a look at us. And we ended the weekend with an adult Humpback breach about 70 yards from the boat. We also got to watch a baby breach over, and over, and over again…and to top it all off…we got mugged by another curious calf and her Mom.
Mahalo,
Claire
Captain Claire’s Humpback Fact of the Day: According to research reported by the Keiki Kohola project, very young calves (identified by the extent to which their fins are still furled from their time in utero) are much more active than older calves, swimming and twirling and kicking. These researchers theorize that all that exercise leads to the production of a necessary oxygen storing protein called “myoglobin”  in the whales’ muscles. One of the reasons adult humpbacks can hold their breath for 45 minutes is that they can store oxygen in their muscles (not just their lungs), and baby is training to be able to do that too.

Opportunistic Feeding!

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Aloha
On Thursday’s Breakfast with the Whales, our Captain and Crew reported seeing something very unusual. They said that they were watching 3 whales who were very close to the boat, come to the surface repeatedly with their mouths open. The fish finder on the boat showed that the area was packed with fish…so it’s very possible that guests got to see the whales feeding! This is definitely an unusual behavior for whales in lower latitudes (since generally they fast all winter long here), but it’s not unheard of. Researchers do say that the whales will feed opportunistically wherever they are, but that generally during mating and calving season the opportunity doesn’t come up very often. Besides these close-by whales, we saw lots of other whales spouting, and lots of splashes in the distance. At 10:00, no matter which direction we looked, we saw whales (about 30 over the course of the cruise). We saw pec slaps, head lunges, tail lobs, lots of sounding dives where we could see some great details on their flukes, and had a great close encounter with a whale who decided to swim right under the boat.
Mahalo and have a great weekend. I’ll send the next report out on Monday!
Claire
Captain Claire’s Humpback Whale Fact of the Day:   Researchers report that Humpbacks in Alaska can consume a ton of food in a day. Their diet consists mainly of very small fish like herring — based on the calorie count of herring, a Humpback in Alaska is consuming 1,500,000 calories each day!

A Peduncle Throw and a Close Encounter

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Aloha,
Our Monday morning Humpbacks seemed to enjoy the Anaeho’omalu Bay area. Guests aboard our 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales cruise on Seasmoke were treated to sightings of 4 Humpbacks. Two of them were in the distance, but the other pod of two stayed with us for more than 30 minutes. We were all pretty excited when one of the whales threw his peduncle out of the water (the peduncle is what we call the back half of the whale…from behind his dorsal fin). According to our on-board naturalist Mike, at one point, a whale surfaced just 50 feet from the boat (though we never approach the whales closer than 100 yards, they can choose to approach us)! Guests aboard our 10:00 Whale Watch from Kawaihae didn’t see any whales, but since our morning trips are guaranteed, they’re all invited to ride again with us for FREE! And by 3:00,the wind had really come up, so we decided that in the interest of guest comfort, to reschedule our Whales & Cocktails Cruise.
 
Join Ocean Sports for the best Hawaii Whale Watch Tours! 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 received protected status from the International Whaling Commission in 1966, banning most nations from hunting them. In the U.S., the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, and the Endangered Species Act of 1973 provide additional protection to the whales. In fact, unless operating under a federal research permit, approaching humpback whales within 100 yards (300 feet) or within 1,000 feet from aircraft is prohibited by federal regulations.
 
 

Triple Breach and Ancient Migratory Paths

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Aloha,
Wednesday’s whale watching started off with a bang! On our 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales trip, guests saw 10 different Humpbacks. Nate, our naturalist aboard that trip, reports that the best encounter though was with a Cow/Calf/Escort pod who performed a triple breach about 100 feet from the boat! Just getting to see 3 breaches in your life is a wonderful experience, but when you see 3 whales breaching simultaneously and they’re close enough that you can see their tubercles — well…that’s a sight you’ll never forget! On our 10:00 Whale Watch, we saw 2 whales, and had one close encounter. Apparently, the Humpbacks that are still here are pretty interested in us! When we deployed the hydrophone, we did here some good singing. On the 3:00 Whales and Cocktails, we looked and looked, but we couldn’t find a whale…but the cocktails were flowing and guests enjoyed the cruise.
Join Ocean Sports for the Whale Watch Adventure of your life. Call us at 886-6666 ext. 103 or visit www.hawaiioceansports.com to reserve your spot before the spectacular 2011-2012 season ends.
Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: Though Humpback whales in different hemispheres migrate on opposite schedules (when it’s summer in the Northern Hemisphere, it’s winter in the Southern Hemisphere) and therefore are very unlikely to meet, no subspecies of Humpbacks are recognized genetically. In fact there has been some research done on maternal lineages that demonstrates relationships which exist in the present across hemispheric boundaries. This suggests that at one point (perhaps in the very distant past)  there was some level  of inter-hemispheric gene flow.
Mahalo,
Captain Claire

Entertained by Hawaii’s Dolphins + Breaches and Babies

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Aloha,
All of our Whale Watches on Thursday had one thing in common — very loud singing! On our 10:00 Whale Watch from Kawaihae, guests saw 8 different whales, 3 Cow/Calf pairs and 4 close encounters. Our naturalist aboard that trip, Jonathan, said that the water was so clear that when the whales swam right by the side of the boat, everyone could make out all the details on the whales’ bodies. And of course, when the hydrophone was deployed, we were amazed by the sounds we were hearing. On our 3:00 Whales & Cocktails, we saw 15 whales and two breaches. Our hydrophone was a hit on that trip too, broadcasting a wide variety of sounds. And though we weren’t on an “official” whale watch from 9:30-12:30, guests aboard Seasmoke saw 12 different whales, 9 breaches, 4 peduncle throws, one very small calf accompanied by his mother and an escort…and a pod of approximately 200 Spinner Dolphins! The dolphins put on quite a show as they cruised north past Anaeho’omalu Bay. We saw lots of end-over-end spins, and lots of vertical spins. The dolphins even came right up to our bow, and rode our bow wake for a few minutes.
Join Ocean Sports on a Whale Watch, a Snorkel Sail or a Sunset Sail. Call us at 886-6666 ext. 103 or visit www.hawaiioceansports.com to reserve your adventure today.
Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: Humpback Whales don’t sleep as soundly as we do — if they did, researchers believe that they’d drown. Humans breathe in response to carbon dioxide build-up in our blood, but Humpbacks and other marine mammals have to keep part of their brain awake at all times so they remember to breathe. When a Humpback sleeps, he floats just under the surface of the ocean, and comes up to breathe every couple of minutes. We call this behavior “logging’ as the whale looks a lot like a floating log.
Have a Wonderful Weekend,
Captain Claire

Surprised by a Curious Humpback

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Aloha,
All 3 Whale Watch Cruises on Wednesday reported seeing a lot of whales and a lot of surface activity! On our 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales cruise, guests saw 14 different whales, but the favorite sighting was of a Mom/Baby who came over to the boat to investigate. The also saw a head lunge and a breach from different whales. Our 10:00 Whale Watch reports seeing 17 different Humpbacks. The count was confirmed by our Junior Whale Naturalist, Sloan, who helped us keep track of what we were seeing (Mahalo, Sloan — we hope you consider a career in Marine Sciences — we think you’d be very good at it). Guests at 10:00 also report seeing 4 breaches, 3 tail lobs, and 2 peduncle throws. On the 3:00 Whales & Cocktails, guests were gazing off to the starboard side of the boat to look for whales when EVERYONE was surprised by a whale who spouted right off the port side. The whale then dove under the boat, hovered there, apparently looking at all of us looking at him (or her) before surfacing right next to us on the starboard side. Another dive, another hover right beneath us, and another surface on the port side seemed to satisfy that whale’s curiosity, because s/he then swam away. Later in the trip, guests had another close encounter with 2 whales who spouted about 100 feet away and then swam right along side the boat! Our naturalist aboard that trip reports a total of 15 whales sighted, 1 head lunge and one breach.
Join Ocean Sports on any of our 3 daily Whale Watch Cruises departing from 2 different locations within the Hawaii Islands National Marine Sanctuary Waters. Call us at 886-6666 ext. 103 or visit www.hawaiioceansports.com and reserve your adventure today.
Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: When a Humpback spouts, he’s exhaling in a half of a second, 90% of the volume of air in his lungs. It’s enough air in one blow to fill up the interior of a stretch limousine. In case you’re curious, when an average size adult exhales, he takes 3 times as long to exhale just 15% of the volume of air in his lungs — and an adult exhalation wouldn’t even fill up a Smart Car — it’s only enough air to fill up a lunch bag.
Mahalo,
Captain Claire

Close Encounters, Breaches, and Surface Activity

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Aloha,
Monday’s whale watches can be characterized by one of our favorite behaviors: Close Encounters of the Humpback Kind! On our 10:00 Whale Watch from Kawaihae, guests saw a variety of behaviors from 7 different whales – 5 tail lobs, 2 body lunges, 2 pec slaps and 2 peduncle throws, but for more than 20 minutes, they got to watch a Humpback apparently enamored with one of our dive-site mooring balls. As the boat hovered nearby, the whale swam around and around that mooring ball! At 3:00, our Whales & Cocktails cruise reports seeing somewhere around 20 different whales (sometimes it’s difficult to count) and a couple of pec slaps, but they had a close enounter with 3 whales. Captain Will said they saw the whales in the beginning of the cruise so he shut down the boat engines when he was about 150 yards from the whales, but the whales disappeared. He decided to go look for other whales. After he left, the guests looking behind the boat saw the whales surface again, so Captain Will turned the boat around and motored to 150 yards of them, but this time he left the engines on (in neutral, so the props weren’t turning). Apparently the whales liked the boat noise because they came over to investigate, giving us another close encounter! Oh — and our 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales cruise didn’t have a close encounter, but they did see 13 different whales, with 2 close-by breaches from the same whale! They also saw 3 pec slaps and got in the right place to see some beautiful fluke dives.
Join Ocean Sports and see the Whales. We offer 2 cruises daily just for whale watching, but this time of year, you’ll see whales from our Black Sand Snorkel Sails and our Sunset Sails!  Call 886-6666 ext. 103 or visit www.hawaiioceansports.com to reserve your adventure today.
Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: We know Humpbacks are big animals, but it’s not until we have a CLOSE ENCOUNTER that we really appreciate how big they are. But Humpbacks are only the 5th largest of the great whales — Blue whales, Finbacks, Grays, and Right Whales (including Bowheads) are all longer (on average)– and if you want to count the toothed whales in the list, Sperm Whales are longer too.
Mahalo,
Captain Claire