Tag Archives: competitive pod

Very, very loud singing and some competition

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Aloha,
We had an incredible Whale Watch at 10:00 on Tuesday. We saw 14 different Humpbacks, but spent considerable time watching a Mom, her baby and an escort trying to keep another huge male at bay. We saw 3 body lunges from this group, and 5 head lunges, plus 2 pectoral slaps and 4 peduncle throws. We also got to see Mom and baby up close as they swam right under us about 30 feet deep. We got to see right up their blow holes! When we deployed the hydrophone later in the trip, the songs were incredibly loud. The bass notes literally shook the boat…we could actually feel (and see) the windows vibrating. Oh — and we also saw a couple of breaches during the trip. It was a great couple of hours! On our 3:00 Whales and Cocktails, guests saw a total of 6 whales. According to our naturalist Angelica, the first whales spotted were way South of the Bay, and a good ways out to sea. We did find a pod of two whales much closer though, and spent considerable time watching them travel along the coast. They were in a 3-4 minute dive pattern, surfacing, spouting a couple of times and then sounding for those shorter dives. We got to see lots of flukes from this pair.
Join Ocean Sports for a Whale Watch and see the action for yourself. Call us at 886-6666 ext. 103 or visit www.hawaiioceansports.com to reserve your adventure today.
Humpback Whale 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 partners…or 2). Female Humpbacks are overwhelmed by aggressive males and bullied into mating.
Mahalo,
Captain Claire

Breaches, Double Breaches and Monday Muggings

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Aloha,
We started our Whale Watching week off with a great show on our 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales cruise. guests saw 22 whales, including a competitive pod of very active whales throwing their peduncles and slapping their pec fins. The highlight of the trip though, was watching a baby whale breach more than 30 times! on our 10:00 Whale Watch, we saw 14 whales. We spent considerable time with a pod of 7 whales who kept surfacing all around the boat. According to our naturalist Mike, they didn’t seem to really be behaving aggressively — maybe they were just biding their time looking for a receptive female. And on our 3:00 Whales and Cocktails cruise we saw 10 whales. The trip started off kind of slow, but then we saw a spout near the Hilton Waikoloa Village. When we got about 100 yards away from it, we saw two more spouts…and then one of the whales breached right in front of us, followed by a spectacular synchronized double breach! After we stopped cheering, we saw a tiny spout a little further away, so we drove over to see Mom, baby and their escort. The baby was very curious and spent a lot of time checking us out (Mom allowed it), so we stayed in neutral and enjoyed the mugging.
Join Ocean Sports for a Whale Watch you’ll never forget. Call us at 886-6666 ext. 103 or visit www.hawaiioceansports.com to reserve your adventure today.
Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: The Humpbacks we see off Hawaii’s coastlines travel quite a bit between the islands, but researchers have yet to observe a directional trend. In other words, some whales travel North to South, some South to North, and some travel back and forth…a lot like our human visitors.
Mahalo,
Captain Claire

Season of Love

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Aloha,
Monday’s whale watches started out with a great show right outside the bay. On our 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales, our guests had a close encounter with a competitive pod of 4 whales who swam right by us, slapping their tails and pectoral fins. We then encountered a pod of 2 whales who met up with a pod of 3 whales at which point a fight ensued. We’re not very violent people, but we found ourselves yelling “Fight! Fight! Fight!” as we watched the incredible interaction between those whales. We ended that trip watching a very cute little calf and his Momma. Baby made some little pectoral slaps and tail slaps as we all said “Awwww”. On our 10:00 Whale Watch we saw 14 whales, including 3 Cow/Calf/Escort pods. When we deployed our hydrophone, we heard some very clear songs (which means there were some submerged males close by). And on our 3:00 Whales and Cocktails, guests saw a dozen Humpbacks, including a very active competitive pod. Looks like we’re in the season of love for those whales!
Join Ocean Sports on a Whale Watching adventure. Call us at 886-6666 ext 103 or visit www.hawaiioceansports.com for reservations today.
Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: According the the website of the International Whaling Commission (the international agency overseeing whaling) the only countries with people allowed to hunt Humpbacks under the Aboriginal Sustenance Hunting program are a tribe in Greenland (who are allowed 9 West Greenland Humpbacks annually for the years 2010-2012), and the Bequian people of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, who are allowed a total of 20 Humpbacks between the years 2008 and 2012. The next meeting of the sub-committee overseeing these quotas will take place from June 20th to the  27th, 2012 in Panama City.
Mahalo and Aloha,
Captain Claire

Competitive Pods, and Dolphins

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Aloha,
If you didn’t get the chance to join us on any of our Whale Watch trips on Tuesday, you missed some incredible sightings! On our 10:00 Whale Watch from Kawaihae, guests saw 22 different Humpbacks, including two different Cow/Calf pairs, one accompanied by an escort. We also saw 2 different competitive pods, 5 breaches 3 spy hops, 4 tail lobs, 3 body lunges and 3 head lunges. If that wasn’t enough, we were mugged 3 times and we even saw Spinner Dolphins! When we deployed the hydrophone, the songs were really loud and clear. On our 3:00 Whales and Cocktails Cruise, we also saw 22 Humpbacks. We spent the beginning of the trip watching a Cow/Calf/Escort. Mom kept herself between the baby and the escort (which isn’t that unusual — it’s highly unlikely that he’s the father of the calf). Baby did approach us after breaching a few times, and showing us a couple of baby head lunges. We also watched a competitive pod of 5 whales swim right by us, and saw them breach twice, tail lob 5 times, and peduncle throw a couple more times.  And we heard the whale songs loud and clear when we deployed our hydrophone. As our naturalist Jonathan put it, “It was a GREAT day on the water”!
Share a GREAT day on the water with Ocean Sports. We offer Whale Watches, Snorkel Sails and Sunset Sails every day. Call 886-6666 ext. 103 or visit www.hawaiioceansports.com to reserve your great adventure today.
Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: Being mammals, Humpback Whales nurse their calves with a very rich milk. Supposedly this milk tastes like sweet cod liver oil (though I haven’t tried it myself)!
Mahalo,
Captain Claire

Laughing Humpbacks

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Aloha,
Wednesday brought us some great whale action. On our 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales, we saw 15 different whales and got to watch a competitive pod form before our eyes. It began with 2 whales (and we watched as a third joined in). About 10 minutes later, we were MUGGED by a whale who on his way to join our trio, seemed interested enough in us to swim back and forth right under the boat twice giving all of us a great view — if whales could laugh, this whale probably would have been giggling as he watched 49 people run from side to side on the boat to see him). Shortly after that, we had a close encounter with 2 more whales who surfaced about 50 feet from us and joined the rest of the gang. We also got to see 7 breaches, 12 pec slaps, 2 peduncle throws — and when we deployed the hydrophone, the singing was loud! At 10:00, guests on our Whale Watch from Kawaihae saw 22 different Humpbacks, 3 breaches, 3 tail slaps and 2 cow/calf pods. They also got to hear a whale symphony — and had one close encounter.
Want to be part of the action? Join Ocean Sports on any of our daily whale watches. Call 886-6666 ext. 103 or visit www.hawaiioceansports.com and reserve a spot today.
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.
Mahalo,
Captain Claire