Aloha,

Monday’s whale watches were a mixed bag. On our 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales trip out of Anaeho’omalu, we travelled up and down the coast looking for Humpbacks but we didn’t see any. Since we guarantee our morning Whale Watches, our guests were invited to return on another Whale Watch for free! I guess the Humpbacks had all decided that the Northern part of the sanctuary waters was the place to be, because on our 10:00 Whale Watch out of Kawaihae, we saw 6 Humpbacks. We saw 3 lone whales and one pod of Cow/Calf/Escort. We saw a breach on the horizon, 3 pec slaps and 2 double pec slaps (those were from the calf who seemed to be enjoying his time on the surface). We deployed the hydrophone twice on this trip. The first time, the sounds we heard were really faint, and the second time, they were a little better, but we could tell the singers weren’t in our direct vicinity.

The Humpback Whale Watching Season ends April 15th — don’t miss out! Call 886-6666 ext. 103 or visit www.hawaiioceansports.com to reserve your Guaranteed adventure today.

Humpback Whale Fact of the Day:  The barnacles called “Coronula diadema” live only on Humpback Whales, and they seem to prefer to live on areas of the whale where the water flow is consistent (chin and fins).  Though researchers aren’t sure how the barnacle can even find a whale to live on, there is some speculation that because the barnacles are spawning during the winter in Hawaii, the whales here are swimming in “barnacle larvae soup”. When a whale swims by, those “baby” barnacles chemically sense it, and hop on where ever they can. They use their antennae as “feet’ and walk around the whale till they find a suitable spot (which can take quite awhile…if the barnacle were the size of a person, the whale would be 20 miles long). Once they find a spot they like, they flip over and produce tube-shaped cavities in their shells that actually draw in prongs of growing whale skin, holding their position on the whale for life.

Mahalo,

Captain Claire