Tag Archives: double breach

Magic on the Water

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Aloha,

Our Wednesday Whale Watches were really fun. On our Wake up with the Whales Cruise on Manu Iwa, we got to see 4 double breaches — we’re never really sure how whales can time that so perfectly and it’s astounding to see. Our idling boat was also approached by a couple of big adults who decided to take a good look at our hulls, diving just below us. The water was so calm and flat that we could almost count the tubercles on their pectoral fins as they swam underneath. And our 10:00 Whale Watch on Alala was just magical. Shortly after we left the harbor, we found a Mom with her baby and an escort. According to our on-board naturalist Donna, guests could clearly see baby resting on Mom’s rostrum (her head). They stayed that way for a very long time, until baby rolled away. Then, Donna reported seeing some splashing further down the coast so Captain Kino cruised over to see what was going on. There were 3 adult humpbacks on the surface just rolling around. It wasn’t aggressive…they were showing their flukes, their bellies, and their pec fins. They kept rolling around each other getting closer and closer to our idling boat. Then they decided to dive underneath us, but even then they stayed close enough to  the surface for us to see them. After passing underneath us, we had to head back to the harbor where we saw our  Mom,baby and escort again…this time accompanied by a pod of Spinner Dolphins! And on our Whales and Cocktails Cruise, Captain Kealohi reports that guests saw about two dozen different whales…lots of Mom/Baby pods (most accompanied by escorts), and 4 different competitive pods.
Mahalo,
Claire
Captain Claire’s Humpback Fact of the Day: Researchers have observed that female Humpbacks don’t associate with each other at all while they’re in Hawaii. This is especially interesting in light of the fact that the females do associate with each other in Alaska — they’ll even feed cooperatively there. Since the females come here just to mate (and calve), we can postulate that female-female interaction must somehow get in the way of successful mating. Maybe groups of females would attract too many competitive males for safe mating to occur….what do you think?

Double Breach…and One Whale Breaches 8 Times

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Aloha,

Have you ever seen a double breach? Lucky guests aboard Tuesday’s Wake Up With the Whales Cruise on Seasmoke got to see this very exciting surface activity about midway through our cruise. We were watching Mom and her baby being chased by two male Humpbacks when all of a sudden Mom and one of the escorts breached simultaneously right next to some kayakers. The splash they created actually hid the kayakers from our view — we could only imagine what they must have been thinking when these big whales erupted out of the water together.After that, baby breached about 4 times, and head lunged a few more times. We also got a couple of very close encounters when Humpbacks decided to surface off our port stern. Our 10:00 Whale Watch on Alala started with a huge breach just after we had left the harbor. When a cruise starts that good, everything else we see just adds to the excitement. We found a very small calf on this cruise, swimming and diving down to Mom…and we also saw some tail lobbing from another adult Humpback. On our Whales and Cocktails Cruise out of Kawaihae, we got to see a Cow/Calf/Escort close to the boat, but the grand finale was watching a big adult Humpback breach 8 times!
Mahalo,
Claire
Captain Claire’s Humpback Fact of the Day: Researchers off the coast of Brazil have discovered that some marine mammals including Humpbacks may have up to 14 spleens. Among other functions, the spleen stores red blood cells (which store oxygen)…so an extra spleen may help a deep diving animal stay underwater longer. These spleens can contract during a dive, releasing fresh blood with oxygenated red blood cells to keep the whale’s important organs alive and functioning. 14 spleens?! Amazing.

Whales active from Dawn til Dusk

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Aloha,

Tuesday morning was a great time to be on the water. On our Wake Up with the Whales Cruise on Seasmoke, we saw a LOT of whales. We watched one whale breach about 8 times, and another whale breach about 50 feet from someone on a kayak (both whale and kayaker were fine, though we’re betting each of them was a bit surprised by the other)!. We also saw peduncle throws, pec slaps and numerous tail lobs during this cruise. On Manu Iwa, we also saw a lot of whales, but the highlight had to have been the double breach. We often wonder what kind of communication occurs between two humpbacks in order to successfully breach simultaneously. And Captain Baker reports that guests joining us on our Sunset Cruise from Kawaihae had “an outstanding show”. He reports seeing whales all around and even under the boat. The whales were really active on the surface too — slapping their pectoral fins, peduncle throwing, and breaching.
Mahalo,
Claire
Captain Claire’s Humpback Fact of the Day: When we see a Humpback wave his pectoral fin, it looks really floppy — as if there were no bones inside it at all. But if you were to x-ray that fin, surprisingly, you’d find all the same bones and joints that we have in our arms — all the way down to the smallest digits of our fingers. Though according to researcher Spencer Wilkie Tinker, Humpbacks are missing what would be their third finger on a human.

Double Breach, Close Encounters and a Symphony

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Aloha,
We ran all kinds of Whale Watches on Thursday. On our 9:00 Kid’s Field Trip Cruise (yes – we run educational cruises just for our local school kids – and when I think of the boring field trips I used to attend, I have to admit I’m kind of envious) — the kids got to see about 15 different whales, including a couple of competitive pods. The kids also saw several Humpback Mom/Baby pods, and a couple of breaches from some adult Humpbacks. On the 11:00 Kid’s Field Trip Cruise, the kids saw a breach just 100 yards from the boat. They also saw a Mom/Baby/Escort pod – and the escort did some pec slaps. The water was so clear on Thursday, that you could see the outlines of the whales’ bodies as they swam just below the surface. On our Breakfast with the Whales Cruise, we watched Mom/Baby/Escort swim right underneath our bow, and then saw the dissolution of a small competitive pod. And we began our 10:00 Cruise with a double breach. We also got to hear some of the loudest singing we’ve heard this season when we deployed our hydrophone.
Just a personal note…I will be offline all next week, so Kay, our Director of Sales and Marketing, will be sending you the Humpback Updates from her email address! Have a wonderful week, and I’ll be back again for the report on March 17th.
Mahalo,
Claire
Captain Claire’s Humpback Fact of the Day:Those lines we see under the Humpback’s mouth are actually pleats that allow for the expansion of her mouth when she feeds. This expansion, combined with her ability to flex her jaws, allows her to hold up to 15,000 gallons of sea water in her mouth at one time — that’s the equivalent of 160,000 cans of Diet Pepsi (or Budweiser) in every gulp — of course, she doesn’t swallow the water she gulps…just the unlucky fish that had been swimming in it.

Baby Whales Entertain Themselves

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Aloha,
There was a lot going on this past weekend with the whales. On Friday’s Breakfast with the Whales, guests saw at least a dozen different Humpbacks, including a few who decided to surface right next to us. On our 10:00 Whale Watch, we got to watch our favorite pod – Mom/Baby/Escort. The baby was really small, but really active – trying, in his uncoordinated way, to breach a few times just 20 feet from our boat. The escort was HUGE – one of the biggest whales we’ve seen in a long time. We also got to see lots of surface activities from other adult whales – breaches, pec slaps, peduncle throws, and even a spy hop. When we deployed the hydrophone, we heard some great sounds. On both Friday’s Whales and Cocktails, and Saturday’s Breakfast with the Whales, we got to watch a  Mom/Baby/Escort pod. Friday’s pod was really active, but Saturday’s pod was just cruising on the surface (though they were surfacing frequently about 100 yards from us). And we finished a GREAT weekend of watching whales with a Double Breach (that’s two whales breaching at the same time) just 120 yards from the boat on Sunday’s Whales and Cocktails!
Mahalo,
Claire
Captain Claire’s Humpback Fact of the Day: In August 2008, the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) changed the status of the Humpback Whale from “Vulnerable” to “Least Concern” reflecting the general upward trend of population levels. According to IUCN standards, animal populations in the “Least Concern” category are at a low risk for extinction. The IUCN classifies the status of humans in the same category.

Baby Breaches and Double Breaches

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Aloha,
Our last weekend of the whale watch season started off well. On Friday’s Breakfast with the Whales Cruise, our onboard naturalist Mike reports seeing 10 or 12 different Humpbacks throughout the morning. We saw 2 different pods of Mom/Baby, and one of these pods also had an escort with them. It’s possible the other pod did too, but since the escorts don’t surface nearly as often as baby and Mom, we weren’t sure. We also dropped the hydrophone and heard a lot of singing…so there are definitely quite a few whales still around Hawaii. On Saturday’s Breakfast with the Whales Cruise, we spent most of our time watching two very calm whales swimming and spouting. But on the Whales and Cocktails we got to see a little competition. We found a pod of Mom, Baby and two escorts. It was easy to tell the two escorts apart, because when they showed their flukes, one was almost all black, and the other all white. All the chasing around they were doing got the baby excited, and we got to see him breach right next to the boat!  We also saw a double breach from two adults a bit further out. Sunday’s Whale Watches were pretty quiet – but we did see some spouts and a few tails. On our 10:00 Whale Watch, most of the action was pretty far away, so even though a few whales were spotted, Captain Paul decided to invite our guests to come out with us again for our last day of whale watching this season.
Mahalo…and I’ll send out my final whale report for the 2012/2013 season tomorrow!
Claire
Captain Claire’s Humpback Fact of the Day: New research results released just his year (conducted by Dr. Adam Pack and his associates) documents that the largest female Humpbacks will associate almost exclusively with the largest males.  The largest males however were much less discriminating — they were seen associating with females of all sizes. And the smaller males have been seen only associating with smaller females. who may not have even reached sexual maturity. So yes…. size does matter (at least for the female humpbacks)!

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