Aloha,

Sunday’s calm winds brought guests aboard our Dolphin Watch Adventure a spectacular encounter with the Spinner Dolphins. We first encountered the pod of about 50 dolphins near “Frog Rock”…which is north of Kawaihae Harbor near Kohala Ranch. The pod was pretty mellow, but swam over to check us out. We kept on a steady course, and the dolphins seemed to enjoy our wake (both bow wake and stern wake) as we motored slowly down the coast. The pod stayed with us for about an hour…all the way to Spencer Beach Park. We especially enjoyed watching the two tiny calves as they swam alongside Mom’s head, and tried to mimic everything the adults were doing.

Join us on our next scheduled Dolphin Watch Adventure departing from Kawaihae Harbor on Alala tomorrow (Tuesday). Call 886-6666 ext. 103 for information and reservations.

Dolphin Fact of the Day: For the first week of a dolphin’s life, he’s usually seen swimming near his Mom’s head…this is called “echelon swimming” and probably allows the baby to ride the pressure wave produced by Mom as she swims. Older calves are often found swimming nearer Mom’s dorsal fin. Researchers think this position allows the baby to keep up with Mom by “drafting”.

Mahalo,

Captain Claire