Breach!

Aloha,
We only operated two Whale Watch Cruises on Thursday due to the building wind and surf conditions. The ocean conditions in the early morning were really nice though, and guests on our Breakfast with the Whales Cruise saw 6 different Humpbacks. They were all travelling in pods of two, and while Captain Baker reports there wasn’t a lot of surface activity to watch, everyone did see one full-on breach – always an exciting event! By 10:00, the wind had come up, making it very difficult to find the whales…so Captain Will called it a fluke and gave all the guests aboard the boat the opportunity to join us again on another Whale Watch for FREE. Hopefully ocean conditions will calm down again for Friday so we can go out again!
Mahalo,
Claire
Captain Claire’s Humpback Whale Fact of the Day:Just how difficult is it for a 40 ton, 45 foot long animal to “fly” from the sea in a total breach? Observers have reported seeing Humpbacks breach after only two kick strokes for propulsion. Based on the formula for calculating horsepower, measurements of laminar flow around cetacean skin (how water flows past the skin of the animal), girth and drag in the water, the breaching whale is producing between 1500 and 1700 horsepower in order to “catch air”. We used to think it was closer to 5000 horsepower, but with the aid of a calculator and more accurate measurements, we’ve been able to recalculate more accurately…still, try this yourself next time you’re in the water. We’re betting you won’t get very far!