Aloha,

Both of Tuesday’s Whale Watches were really pretty incredible. On our 10:00 Whale Watch from Kawaihae, guests saw 20 different Humpbacks, 5 breaches, 2 tail lobs and 3 pec slaps. But the highlight had to be when we encountered a pod of 7 whales (we’re guessing 6 males and a female) in a competitive pod (a.k.a. “heat run”). These whales showed us 4 complete body lunges and 6 head lunges as they jockied for position amongst each other. At 3:00, our Whales & Cocktails cruise reports 25 different whales — and many of them were in pods of 3. We saw 6 full breaches about 150 yards from the boat! And when our breacher started to tire, he (or she) started head lunging. Meanwhile, another whale close by rolled over on his back and performed 8 double pec slaps and a few more single pec slaps. We also saw 2 Cow/Calf pods — and when the first baby tried to approach the boat, we watched as a HUGE footprint appeared less than 25 feet from the boat. When the whales surfaced again, Mom had taken her baby away from us.

Join Ocean Sports on 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: The smooth round flat spot we see on the water after a whale dives is called the “footprint”. Whalers thought it was caused by oil from the whale’s skin calming the surface of the water, but water samples have proven that theory to be false. When a whale dives (or kicks just below the surface) his flukes break the surface tension of the water and create a vertical wake, forming the footprint.

Mahalo,

Captain Claire