Tag Archives: whale song

Lots of competition and a dinner of whale meat?!

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Aloha,
Wednesday’s Whale Watches began with a “Great Show” according to Captain Jeff Baker. Guests aboard our 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales cruise saw 20 whales and encountered a very active competitive pod of 6 whales. As usual, when we get to see a competitive pod, there’s lots of splashing, shoving, and jockeying for position among the whales as the males try to get close to the female. And since the whales are swimming hard, they’re on the surface breathing a lot too (just like when you run fast, your breathing rate increases). We even got to hear the “trumpeting” sound the whales make when they exhale forcefully, trying to catch their breath. On our 10:00 Whale Watch, we saw 12  different whales, 3 breaches and 3 tail lobs and then encountered a competitive pod in which we saw 4 body lunges, 5 head lunges and 2 pectoral slaps — exciting stuff. We also saw a couple of Cow/calf pods and heard some great sounds when we deployed our hydrophone.
Join Ocean Sports for an adventure on a Whale Watch you’ll never forget! Call us at 886-6666 ext. 103 or visit www.hawaiioceansports.com for reservations and information.
Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: In 1918, in effort to stockpile more beef, mutton and pork to send to the American troops fighting the 1st World War, the US government sponsored a luncheon at the American Museum of National History in New York featuring Humpback Whale meat. Several dignitaries were invited (including Admiral Peary) to feast on the menu created by the Head Chef of Delmonico’s, and were quoted saying the meat tasted like pot roast or venison. During the luncheon, the museum’s “reliable sources” reported that if all of the 7 operational whaling stations on the Pacific Coast began processing whale for food (instead of for fertilizer), more than 20 million pounds of whale meat could be distributed to the American public during the summer months alone at a cost of 12.5 cents/pound. The idea never really caught on with the American public though.
Mahalo,
Captain Claire

A real Cutie, Breaches, Songs and Pec Slaps

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Aloha,
Our Friday Whale Watch sightings seemed to mirror the calm seas we experienced. On our 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales, we saw 26 different whales — all adults, and almost all of them were swimming slowly, surfacing and taking a few breaths and then showing us their flukes as they began their deeper dives. We did deploy our hydrophone, and it seemed to us that the whales we were listening to were VERY close to the boat. On our 10:00 Whale Watch, we saw 14 whales including 2 Cow/Calf pods. We saw 6 breaches on the horizon and had three close encounters. We also were mugged twice and got to see a very young gray calf as he swam right under our stern, and rolled over onto his back. Like all babies, this guy was a real cutie. The songs we heard on this whale watch were coming in loud and clear too! On Saturday, our 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales trip reports seeing 15 whales, with a few breaches — but the most exciting thing that happened on that trip was a whale repeatedly slapping his pectoral fin on the surface of the water about 20 feet from the boat! On Sunday, our 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales cruise reports seeing 35 whales including 3 pods of Cow/Calf/Escorts and a big Competitive Pod performing the usual aggressive surface behaviors. Guests aboard this trip really loved seeing the baby whales though. And at 10:00, our Whale Watch from Kawaihae reports seeing 13 whales — mostly just spouting and sounding. But towards the end of the trip, while everyone was looking towards the front of the boat, a Humpback breached about 100 yards from us! Captain Will said the breach “came out of the blue” (which in this case is both a literal and a figurative description). We’ve noticed over the years that it’s a rare occasion when everyone on the boat is looking the right way to see the breach — what a great end to our Weekend Whale Watches!
Don’t miss the whale watch action in February…Ocean Sports offers 3 different trips daily, departing from two different locations within the Hawaii Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary Waters. Call us at 886-6666 ext. 103 or visit www.hawaiioceansports.com to reserve your “height-of-the-season” adventure today.
Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: Traditionally, the Hawaiian people did not hunt whales. It may be because they didn’t like the taste of the meat, or it may be because the spirit of the whale was so powerful…But if a toothed whale did end up on a beach (whether it died at sea and was blown ashore, or actually beached itself), only the ali’i (royalty) were allowed to possess any part of the whale. Carvings made from a whale’s tooth called “Niho Palaoa” brought mana (roughly defined as a ” spiritual force”) to the both the carver and the wearer of the pendant.

Entertained by Hawaii’s Dolphins + Breaches and Babies

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Aloha,
All of our Whale Watches on Thursday had one thing in common — very loud singing! On our 10:00 Whale Watch from Kawaihae, guests saw 8 different whales, 3 Cow/Calf pairs and 4 close encounters. Our naturalist aboard that trip, Jonathan, said that the water was so clear that when the whales swam right by the side of the boat, everyone could make out all the details on the whales’ bodies. And of course, when the hydrophone was deployed, we were amazed by the sounds we were hearing. On our 3:00 Whales & Cocktails, we saw 15 whales and two breaches. Our hydrophone was a hit on that trip too, broadcasting a wide variety of sounds. And though we weren’t on an “official” whale watch from 9:30-12:30, guests aboard Seasmoke saw 12 different whales, 9 breaches, 4 peduncle throws, one very small calf accompanied by his mother and an escort…and a pod of approximately 200 Spinner Dolphins! The dolphins put on quite a show as they cruised north past Anaeho’omalu Bay. We saw lots of end-over-end spins, and lots of vertical spins. The dolphins even came right up to our bow, and rode our bow wake for a few minutes.
Join Ocean Sports on a Whale Watch, a Snorkel Sail or a Sunset Sail. Call us at 886-6666 ext. 103 or visit www.hawaiioceansports.com to reserve your adventure today.
Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: Humpback Whales don’t sleep as soundly as we do — if they did, researchers believe that they’d drown. Humans breathe in response to carbon dioxide build-up in our blood, but Humpbacks and other marine mammals have to keep part of their brain awake at all times so they remember to breathe. When a Humpback sleeps, he floats just under the surface of the ocean, and comes up to breathe every couple of minutes. We call this behavior “logging’ as the whale looks a lot like a floating log.
Have a Wonderful Weekend,
Captain Claire

Siren’s Song, Protective Mother Whales and a little bit of a Fight

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Aloha,
Wednesday’s Whale Watchers got the opportunity to meet a whole bunch of baby whales. At 8:00, on our Breakfast with the Whales cruise, we spent the first 40 minutes with Mom, her baby and an escort. Mom was pretty protective of her calf, keeping him on the other side of her from the escort (which is the same thing we saw yesterday too). At one point, all three of them surfaced about 20 feet from the boat! The escort did a fluke dive and we all got to see the distinct white markings on the ventral side (that’s the underneath part) of his flukes before he did a turn right underneath our bow! We also watched a competitive pod of 2 whales literally shoving each other across the surface of the ocean. We saw 6 breaches, 2 peduncle throws, and heard some very loud singing. On our 10:00 Whale Watch, we saw 14 different whales, including 3 different Cow/Calf pods. We saw 5 breaches and 5 spy hops as well as body and head lunges and some tail lobs. We were “mugged” twice on that trip too, and also heard some very loud songs.
Join Ocean Sports on a Whale Watch and experience the adventure for yourself! Call us at 886-6666 ext. 103 or visit www.hawaiioceansports.com to reserve your seat today.
Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: We don’t always need to deploy our hydrophone to hear the whales singing. When singing whales are very close to the boat, their songs reverberate through the hulls. The uneducated sailors long ago thought that these sounds they were hearing through the holds of the ships were actually sung by sirens (or mermaids).
Mahalo,
Captain Claire

Humpbacks – Babies, Breaches, Lunges and Songs

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Aloha,
The best word to describe this past weekend of whale watching is “Wow”! We started the day off on Friday with our 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales reporting 22 different whales. We spent a lot of time watching a very young calf playing with his mom on the surface. The baby made a couple attempts at breaching (which was really cute), but we also saw other whales breaching a total of 10 times! When we deployed the hydrophone, the songs we heard were really loud. On the 10:00 Whale Watch, guests saw 17 different whales, with one whale breaching 18 times. Our naturalist Jonathan said that he’s been seeing that particular breaching whale off and on for the last 3 weeks (based on his fluke markings, he’s easy to identify) and has named the whale “Hana Ho”. The guests also saw 2 spy hops, pec slaps and peduncle throws (the whole gamut of whale behaviors). On our 3:00 Whales and Cocktails, the highlights of the trip included 5 breaches just 400 yards from the boat, and 4 close encounters. On Saturday, we saw 20 different Humpbacks on our 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales, and lots of breaching and lunging from a competitive pod of 5 whales. And on Saturday’s Whales and Cocktails, guests saw 14 different whales, but we spent most of our time with a competitive pod, watching peduncle throws and lunges. On Sunday, guests aboard our 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales, saw 25 whales, 4 breaches, 6 peduncle throws and one Cow/Calf pair that most likely was accompanied by an escort. We never saw the escort, but Mom was acting pretty excited …lots of peduncle throws from her! On our 10:00 Whale Watch, guests saw 18 whales — and one of them slapped the water 26 times with his pectoral fin. By 3:00, the wind had filled in, but guests aboard our Whales and Cocktails trip saw 7 different whales and 8 peduncle throws. We also saw one fairly small calf.
Join Ocean Sports on a Whale Watch during the height of whale season in Hawaii for an adventure you’ll never forget. Call us at 886-6666 ext. 103 or visit www.hawaiioceansports.com to reserve your spot today.
Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: Humpback Whales have massive tongues. An 80,000 pound Humpback has a two-ton tongue!
Mahalo,
Captain Claire

Lots of Baby Whales, and lots of Close-by Action

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Aloha,
Thursday was a great day for whale watching. On our 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales cruise, guests saw 13 different whales and a lot of the sightings seemed to be concentrated in an area just off the Hilton Waikoloa Village. Our naturalist on the trip, Ryan, reports 9 breaches, 4 head lunges, 3 tail slap and 2 pec slaps. On our 10:00 Whale Watch, guests saw 17 whales, 3 breaches, and 4 tail lobs. Jonathan, our naturalist aboard that trip said that they saw 4 pods of 2 whales consisting of Mom and her Baby. They also got to see the Humpbacks little cousins; the Spinner Dolphins.On our 3:00 Whales & Cocktails cruise, Captain Will reported an interesting phenomenon. He said that throughout the cruise, when ever he’d turn the boat engines off and drift, the whales surfaced very close by. The first time he did that, guests saw a Mom, her baby and an escort surface about 100 feet away. They swam right along the side of the boat towards the stern, and then circled back behind the boat, surfacing again close to the stern… and the same thing happened with another pod of whales later in the trip! Guests at 3:00 also saw two breaches about 400 yards away, and several tail lobs. When the hydrophone was deployed, everyone could hear the whales vocalizing and singing.
Join Ocean Sports for a Whale Watch during the height of the Whale Watch Season (which, based on the last few days of observations, has already begun)! Call us at 886-6666 ext 103 or visit www.hawaiioceansports.com to reserve your adventure.
Humpback Whale Fact of the Day:  Humpback Whales and Spinner Dolphins are actually related — they’re both classified under the scientific order of “Cetacean”. But they’re in different sub-orders. Humpbacks are baleen whales, classified in the sub-order called “Mysticete”. Spinner Dolphins are classified as toothed whales, in the sub-order “Odontocete”.
Mahalo and Have a Great Weekend!
Captain Claire

Humpback Flukes, more dolphins, and muggings!

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Aloha,
According to our naturalist, Nate, “the whales are here in full force!”, and Tuesday’s Whale Watches are proof! Guests aboard our 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales cruise started their morning with plenty of whale sightings — by the end of the trip, they had seen 8 whales multiple times, but spent most of their time watching a pod of 3 whales interacting with each other. The whales performed some tail lobs, and some head lunges, and lots of dives showing their flukes. Ryan, the naturalist aboard that trip said one of the Humpbacks had some very interesting “speckled” markings on the his or her tail. We’ll be looking for that whale again! At 10:00, guests saw 4 different Humpbacks, and a pod of Spinner Dolphins. When the captain deployed the hydrophone during the cruise, the singing was LOUD. And our 3:00 Whales & Cocktails trip began with a full breach about 60 yards from the boat. We were then accompanied for about 25 minutes by a competitive pod, who swam under the boat, “mugging” us several times. Guests saw 16 different whales during that trip and counted one whale performing 11 tail lobs a little ways in the distance.
Join Ocean Sports on any of our 3 daily Whale Watch Cruises and see the action for yourself. Call us at 886-6666 ext 103 or visit www.hawaiioceansports.com for reservations. And if you want to keep an eye on the sightings trends, visit our Whale Watch Blog at www.bigislandwhalewatch.com.
Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: One of the best ways whale watchers have to identify individual Humpbacks is by the unique markings on the ventral (underside) of their flukes (tails). Currently, the National Marine Mammal Laboratory based in Seattle maintains a data base containing more than 30,000 photos of the North Pacific Humpbacks flukes, but other researchers, including those involved in the 3 season SPLASH (Structure of Populations, Levels of Abundance and Status of Humpbacks) project have also used these patterns to identify who’s who in the whale world and estimate population levels.

Wild Weekend Whale Watching

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Aloha,
We had a wild weekend of Whale Watching, starting with our Friday cruises, with our 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales reporting sightings of 10 different whales, multiple tail lobs, 2 pectoral slaps, a breach and some very loud singing. Nate, our naturalist aboard that trip reported that 6 of those whales were in 2 competitive pods of 3 chasing each other down the coast. At 10:00, Whale Watchers report seeing 5 different whales with 3 close encounters and 2 really close encounters (whales swimming under the boat), and our 3:00 Whales and Cocktails Cruise reports seeing 4 different whales multiple times. Saturday and Sunday brought more of the same — with the Whales & Cocktails cruise on Saturday reporting 5 whales, but the highlight of that cruise was watching a full breach about 400 yards from the boat! Sunday’s 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales cruise reports the most sightings — 15 different whales in all, and guests aboard that boat were “mugged” 3 different times (in this case, a “mugging” is a good thing, because we use the term to describe one of those really, really close encounters!). At 10:00, whale watchers saw 6 different whales and were treated to a close encounter and some very loud singing. Sunday’s 3:00 Whales & Cocktails cruise reports seeing 13 different whales multiple times…and to end the weekend with a bang (or a splash), FIVE BREACHES!
Join Ocean Sports on one of our 3 daily Whale Watch Cruises departing from 2 different locations within the Hawaii Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary Waters. Call 886-6666 ext 103 or visit hawaiioceansports.com to reserve your adventure today.
Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: The Whales “mugging” us are definitely taking a look at us. Though hearing is the most important sense for the whale, 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)!
Mahalo,
Captain Claire

Spy hops, Breaches, Lunges…and Dolphins!

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Aloha,
Tuesday’s whale watchers saw a wide variety of action. The highest rate of sightings and activity was logged on our 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales cruise, where our naturalist Ryan reported seeing a “plethora” of whales — 20 to 25 different Humpbacks. Guests aboard that cruise witnessed breaches, head lunges, and even some spy hops. At 10:00, our whale watchers saw 3 different whales, 2 breaches and even some of the Humpback’s smaller cousins, the Spinner Dolphins. When the Captain deployed the hydrophone on that trip, the guests heard some very loud vocalizations. By 3:00, the wind had come up, but our Captain aboard the Whales & Cocktails trip did report that guests saw a Humpback spouting.
Join Ocean Sports on any of our 3 daily Whale Watch Cruises departing from 2 different locations within the Hawaii Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary Waters. Call us at 886-6666 ext. 103 or visit hawaiioceansports.com to reserve your adventure today.
Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: Spy hopping is one of the ways a Humpback can see what’s going on above the surface of the water. Because Humpbacks have really big heads proportionally, their eyes are about a third of the way down their bodies. When the whale spy hops, she rises slowly and vertically from the water, head first. If she’s a fully grown whale, her rostrum may be 15 feet above the surface before her eyes get there!
Mahalo,
Captain Claire

Lots of Whale Songs, and a bit of Competition

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Aloha,
Guests on all three of our Whale Watch cruises from both locations reported good sightings on Tuesday. Both the 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales departing from Abay, and the 10:00 Whale Watch departing from Kawaihae reported seeing 4 different whales (with the folks on the 8:00 Whale Watch reporting some dolphins accompanying the boat for awhile too)..but the highlight of each of those trips happened when the hydrophone was deployed. Both trips reported LOUD singing, and the guests aboard the 10:00 Whale Watch were able to hear 3 different whales singing. At 3:00, guests aboard our Whales & Cocktails trip not only heard a lot of singing, but also watched 8 different whales. At one point, one of the whales swam directly beneath the stern of the boat! And there seemed to be a bit of competition going on at 3:00 with some tail lobs and pectoral slaps too.
Ocean Sports provides 3 opportunities daily to see the whales, and we depart from two different locations within the Hawaii Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary Waters. Please call us at 886-6666 ext 103 or visit hawaiioceansports.com for more information.
Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: When we say we heard LOUD singing yesterday, just how loud do we mean? Well, Humpback Whales have been recorded producing sounds at around 185 decibels. Because the decibel scales use different references for sounds underwater than thru the air, that’s the equivalent of about 123 decibels for us on the surface..which is as loud as the amplified music at a rock concert when you’re standing directly in front of a tower of speakers!
Mahalo,
Captain Claire