Tag Archives: whale breach

Whale Watching Season is in Full Swing

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Aloha,
You know the whale season is in full swing when the naturalists see so many whales they forget to count! On our 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales, our naturalist Logan reports seeing “a whole bunch of whales”. Not a very accurate count…but when the action is this good, it’s hard to keep track! Guests also saw a Mom and her calf fairly close to the boat. They saw two breaches in the distance and lots of tail lobs. The same thing happened on our other whale watches, with the naturalists describing the trips as “so many whales we didn’t know where to look”! On our Whales & Cocktails Cruise, Adam, our on board naturalist, gave his best guesstimate as sighting 20 different whales throughout the course of the trip. He reports that the highlight of this trip was watching 2 whales breaching right next to each other. All that energy and splashing apparently attracted the attention of some other Humpbacks as we all got to watch 5 more whales join the breachers.
Mahalo and Have a Great Weekend. I’ll send the weekend recap out on Monday.
Claire
Captain Claire’s Humpback Fact of the Day: Yesterday I promised to discuss a few theories about why a female Humpback with a calf would allow males to approach her since she doesn’t appear to be receptive to getting pregnant while she’s caring for a calf, and since DNA studies have proven that the escort isn’t the calf’s father. Researchers have observed Mom and Baby accompanied by a male escort about 83% of the time during the winter season in Hawaii, so she must have her reasons…one theory is that the escort is trying to make a good impression on the female so that when she finally is receptive, she’ll consider the possibility of mating with him. Other researchers theorize that she puts up with the company of one male, hoping that he’ll scare off other amorous suitors….maybe dealing with one male at a time is easier than having to deal with 2, 3, 4 or more! 

Escorts and Breaching

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Aloha,
We had some nice times on the water on Wednesday.We saw whales on all of our trips, but the highlight of the whole day was on our 10:00 Whale Watch when we saw a total of 8 different whales. One was a pod of 3…Mom, her baby, an an escort (for a definition of the escort’s role, please see today’s Humpback Fact of the Day). We got to see 2 breaches just 25 yards from the boat. Jonathan, our on board naturalist, is pretty sure it was the escort doing the breaching since Mom and baby weren’t all that active on the surface. When we deployed the hydrophone on this trip, we heard some very clear and loud songs. As more and more whales arrive in Hawaii this season, we’re beginning to notice more sustained surface activity. Since the Humpbacks come all the way from Alaska to mate and calve…this sustained activity is an indication that the party is getting started!
Mahalo,
Claire
Captain Claire’s Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: We frequently see Mom and Baby whale accompanied by a third whale. We used to think the third whale was a female helping mom take care of her baby, but now that we can identify gender more easily, we know it isn’t. It’s a male — not Dad —but a “wanna-be” Dad. Mom is capable of getting pregnant right after she gives birth (though she usually waits a year between pregnancies). So why does this new mother allow the male near her and her calf? We’ll introduce possible theories in tomorrow’s Fact of the Day.

Just How Well Does a Whale See?

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Aloha,
Our Monday started off really exciting with sightings of at least 20 different whales on our Breakfast with the Whales Cruise. We saw a lot of breaches in the distance but even better…we watched 5 breaches just 100 yards from the boat. We got to spend about a half hour with a Mom and her little calf…they seemed to be aware we were there (all the “oohing” and “aahing” from our guests probably tipped them off), but they didn’t seem at all bothered by our presence. On the 10:00 Whale Watch, guests saw 7 whales including one Mom with her baby. We saw 3 breaches too, and had two close encounters on the starboard side of the boat. The whales weren’t close enough for their spouts to coat our glasses, but they were close enough that we  see details on their bodies! We deployed the hydrophone on this trip and we heard singing from a whale we estimated to be about one mile away. On the Whales and Cocktails Cruise, we saw 18 different whales, but spent the majority of our time with a Mom and her very young calf. Meggan, our on-board naturalist estimated this little guy to be no more than a week and a half old. We watched as he attempted several tail lobs and peduncle throws. And we saw Mom breach 15 times! At one point, we got “mugged” as both of them came over to check us out, circling the boat and looking at us (we saw Mom lift her head out of the water to see us better). Oh…and we also saw some breaches out in the distance!
Mahalo,
Claire
Captain Claire’s Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: The Whales “mugging” us are definitely taking a look at us. Though Humpbacks rely on their sense of hearing far more than any other sense, we do know that vision is also important to them. Based  on the shape of the Humpbacks’ corneas, they can certainly see us…but, they’re probably a bit farsighted when looking through water, and a bit nearsighted when looking through the air. And in case anyone asks you, Humpbacks have beautiful brown eyes (with at least one notable exception…but I’ll tell you about that in a future email)!

Whales in Every Direction

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Aloha,
We started a great weekend of Whale Watching with sightings of 13 whales on our 10:00 Whale Watch including 3 spectacular breaches on the horizon. On this trip, we also saw a kind of lazy competitive pod. Our on board naturalist, Dr. Jonathan, thinks this is a pod of sub-adults just kind of going through the motions. On our Whales and Cocktails cruise, guests saw 10 different whales and a couple of horizon breaches too. Highlights from the rest of the weekend included, according to Captain Shane on his Saturday Whale Watch…”plenty whales and lots of action”. On Sunday, Angelica, our on board naturalist for the Whales and Cocktails Cruise reports that they just had to get out of the bay a few minutes before they had “whales in every direction”. Guests aboard that trip saw a total of 8 whales. 6 of them were on 15 minute long breath hold dives. They also saw 3 tail lobs and a couple of breaches on the horizon.
Mahalo,
Claire
Captain Claire’s Humpback Fact of the Day:   An average size adult Humpback has 2 oval shaped blowholes that measure about 9 inches in diameter (on the bigger part of the oval) sitting side by side. The whales use them like you use your nostrils, exhaling through both before inhaling. If an average size human had nostril openings in the same proportion to his size as a whale’s blowholes are to the whale’s body size, each human nostril would measure about an inch and a quarter in diameter.

Crazy Calf and Lots of Surface Activity

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Aloha,
We had two really run Whale Watches on Thursday. On our 10:00 Whale Watch from Kawaihae, we saw a total of 8 whales — two of them were a mile or so away, but the other 6 put on quite a show. We watched a very active calf (think of any hyperactive 2 year old human kid you’ve ever met and you’ll get the idea). This baby pec slapped, double pec slapped and tail lobbed so many times that we had to stop counting at 20 for each activity and just enjoy his antics. And as if that weren’t enough, we also saw 3 full breaches just 25 yards from the boat from a couple of adults. An on our Whales and Cocktails Cruise, as we were making our way out of the bay in the beginning of the trip, we saw a full breach…then a bunch of tail lobs…then a bunch of peduncle throws about 500 yards from us. The whales kept this up…but they were moving at about the same speed we were, so we got to watch a lot more of this activity from about 500 yards away. We did have one close encounter on this trip, when a smaller whale surfaced just under 100 yards from us, blew, and dived again. In all, we saw 15 different whales on this trip.
Mahalo and have a wonderful weekend. I’ll send out a weekend recap report on Monday.
Claire
Captain Claire’s Humpback Fact of the Day:  Why would a whale waste the energy to throw the back half of his or her body out of the water in a Peduncle Throw (sometimes repetitively)?? Since the whales aren’t telling, all we can do is try to interpret their behavior in terms of what else is going on in their lives at that moment. We know that Humpbacks very rarely eat while they’re in Hawaii, and since a Peduncle Throw is a huge expenditure of energy (if you don’t believe me, try it yourself next time you’re in the ocean), it’s got to be important to the whale. Throwing half of yourself out of the water results in a huge splash and might be a way to communicate location, health, excitement, aggression or irritation to near-by whales. Especially if the near-by whale happens to be so near that he gets landed upon!

Humpbacks Singing…and Lots of Calves

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Aloha,
Highlights from Monday’s Whale Watches included what our naturalist Meggan called, a “really exciting trip – best of the season so far”! On the Breakfast with the Whales Cruise, guests saw 6 Humpbacks, including a Mom and her little calf…we also saw a few breaches – not real close, but close enough that it made for a huge splash! When we dropped the hydrophone in the water we heard some incredible singing too (if you have access to Facebook and want to hear a clip, we put a link to a snippet Hawaii Ocean Sports fan page). And Alala had a private Whale Watch from 8:00 – 10:00. Guests aboard that boat saw 7 whales including a pretty quiet Mom and calf. They also saw a long-distance breach, and they heard some great singing too.
 
Join us on any of our 3 daily Whale Watch Cruises – Call (808)886-6666 ext. 103 or visit HawaiiOceanSports.com for more information and reservations.
 
Mahalo,
Claire
 
Captain Claire’s Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: A baby whale, called a “calf” looks so small and cute when seen playing with her Mom. But everything is relative…when the calf is born, she can already be 10 to as much as 15 feet long, and she weighs 2000 to 3000 pounds!

Faint Singing, Lots of Spouts with Lots of Air, and Close Encounters

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Aloha,
Our Thursday Whale Watches began with 3 sightings on the Breakfast with the Whales Cruise. Our onboard naturalst Kane reports the whales had long bottom times, and performed no surface activities (other than coming up to breathe). Guests aboard the boat were really excited though when at one point, one of the whales surfaced just 50 feet from the boat. On our 10:00 Whale Watch, our on onbard naturalist Dr. Jonathan reports that guests saw 4 Humpbacks with one “pretty spectacular breach on the horizon”. He also tells us that when they hyrdophone was deployed they were able to pick up some faint singing, and says guests were excited by the two different close encounters (whales approaching us closer than 100 yards). And the action continued on to our Whales & Cocktails Cruise with guests seeing lots more spouts from at least 2 whales.
 
Join Ocean Sports for Hawaii’s Best Whale Watch Tours. Call us at (808)886-6666 ext. 103 or visit HawaiiOceanSports.com to reserve your adventure today.
 
Mahalo and have a wonderful weekend. I’ll send out the next report on Monday.
Claire
 
 
Captain Claire’s Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: When a Humpback spouts, he’s exhaling in a half of a second, 90% of the volume of air in his lungs. It’s enough air in one blow to fill up the interior of a mini van. In case you’re curious, when an average size human adult exhales, he takes 3 times as long to exhale just 15% of the volume of air in his lungs — and an adult exhalation wouldn’t even fill up a Smart Car — it’s only enough air to fill up a lunch bag.

Spouts, Tails Slaps and Flukes to Celebrate Christmas

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Aloha,
We hope you all enjoyed your Kalikimaka Celebrations..we celebrated with the Humpbacks! Highlights included sightings of 5 different Humpbacks on our Breakfast with the Whales Cruise. We found all these whales about 1/2 mile off shore– and we didn’t have to travel far, as all of them were between the Mauna Lani area and Anaeho’omalu Bay. We loved watching a juvenile Humpback as he (or she – we couldn’t be sure) breached 3 times about 200 yards from the boat. We also saw some fluke slapping from this whale! On the 10:00 Whale Watch, guests saw 3 whales off shore of Anaeho’omalu Bay spouting and diving. And the action didn’t stop, because on our Whales & Cocktails Cruise we saw some spouting and fluking too,
 
Celebrate the new year with Hawaii’s Best Whale Watch Tours at Ocean Sports. Call us at (808)886-6666 ext. 103 or visit HawaiiOceanSports.com to reserve your adventure.
 
Mahalo,
Claire
 
Captain Claire’s Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: A fully grown Humpback Whale can hold his or her breath for around 45 minutes. Usually, that’s not what we observe in Hawaii though. We’re more likely to witness 10-20 minute breath hold dives, and if the whale is really active, s/he surfaces to breathe a lot more frequently

Triple Breach and Ancient Migratory Paths

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Aloha,
Wednesday’s whale watching started off with a bang! On our 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales trip, guests saw 10 different Humpbacks. Nate, our naturalist aboard that trip, reports that the best encounter though was with a Cow/Calf/Escort pod who performed a triple breach about 100 feet from the boat! Just getting to see 3 breaches in your life is a wonderful experience, but when you see 3 whales breaching simultaneously and they’re close enough that you can see their tubercles — well…that’s a sight you’ll never forget! On our 10:00 Whale Watch, we saw 2 whales, and had one close encounter. Apparently, the Humpbacks that are still here are pretty interested in us! When we deployed the hydrophone, we did here some good singing. On the 3:00 Whales and Cocktails, we looked and looked, but we couldn’t find a whale…but the cocktails were flowing and guests enjoyed the cruise.
Join Ocean Sports for the Whale Watch Adventure of your life. Call us at 886-6666 ext. 103 or visit www.hawaiioceansports.com to reserve your spot before the spectacular 2011-2012 season ends.
Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: Though Humpback whales in different hemispheres migrate on opposite schedules (when it’s summer in the Northern Hemisphere, it’s winter in the Southern Hemisphere) and therefore are very unlikely to meet, no subspecies of Humpbacks are recognized genetically. In fact there has been some research done on maternal lineages that demonstrates relationships which exist in the present across hemispheric boundaries. This suggests that at one point (perhaps in the very distant past)  there was some level  of inter-hemispheric gene flow.
Mahalo,
Captain Claire

Mugged for 45 minutes!

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Aloha,
We started off our week with a Breakfast with the Whales trip that our on-board naturalist Adam said was both “Awesome” and the “best [he’s] seen in weeks”! The trip began with a full breach about 300 yards from the boat, but that wasn’t even the best part. Adam reports that we were surrounded and mugged for 45 minutes by a very curious pod of Mom, her baby and their escort. As Adam said…they were within “spitting distance” the whole time! We love when we’re the object of so much interest by our Humpbacks! On our 10:00 Watch from Kawaihae, we saw 6 Humpbacks — two different pods of Mom/Baby/Escort. We did see one breach and when we deployed the hydrophone we heard some pretty loud, clear singing. We also saw  the Humpback’s little cousins, Hawaiian Spinner Dolphins twice on that trip. On the 3:00 Whales and Cocktails cruise, the Humpbacks seemed to have quieted down quite a bit. We did see one whale, who was on a 13 minute dive pattern. S/he would surface, spout twice and then sound for 13 minutes.
Join Ocean Sports and watch the Humpbacks watching you. Call us at 886-6666 ext. 103 or visit hawaiioceansports.com to reserve your adventure today.
Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: Before whaling was banned internationally, Humpback whales’ livers were processed for their oil, which contained a lot of vitamin A. A fully grown Humpback has a liver that weighs between 800 and 1400 pounds.
Mahalo,
Captain Claire