Muggings and More

Aloha,
Friday brought us some heavy winds so we only ran a couple of Whale Watch Charters. On the Breakfast with the Whales, we saw lots of surface activities, but the highlight of the trip was our close encounter with a Mom and her Baby who were curious enough to swim by and check us out. On the 10:00 Whale Watch, we saw 15 different Humpbacks including 4 Mom/Baby pods, three of whom were accompanied by an escort. We also saw 3 different species of dolphins – Spinners, Bottlenose, and Spotted.
The winds calmed a bit on Saturday and we had some great sightings. On the 10:00 Whale Watch, we stopped counting at 23 whales. The highlight of the trip was watching a competitive pod of 5 whales really charging each other. At one point we all watched as one of the males literally swam right over another male on the surface. We saw peduncle throws, tail lobs, and head lunges from this group too. On the Whales & Cocktails Cruise, both Seasmoke and Manu Iwa were mugged by a very curious whale. First, the whale spent 35 minutes right next to Seasmoke, and then he swam over to Manu Iwa and stayed for another 25 minutes. It was unreal! We also saw head lunges, breaches, tail lobs, and pec slaps but our memories of exactly how many of each of those activities we saw were erased after the muggings! If you’d like to see photos from this incredible cruise, go to the Hawaii Ocean Sports Fan Page on Facebook.
On Sunday’s 10:00 Whale Watch, guests saw 20 whales including 5 Cow/Calf/Escort pods. We saw lots of surface activity too, including 5 breaches, 10 tail lobs, a couple of peduncle throws and lots of pec slaps. At one point we found ourselves surrounded by 4 different Mom/Baby pods..one on each side of the boat, one at the bow, and one at the stern. And on the Whales & Cocktails Cruise, we saw 35 different whales…there was so much surface activity that we couldn’t keep accurate counts! We loved watching a very active baby whale breaching, tail lobbing, and pec slapping right along side his mom who was doing the same activities! We also loved watching a different calf ride along on top of her Mom’s rostrum…and another highlight was watching yet another calf lying on his back, double pec slapping. This was another one of those whale watches that had action every where you looked and every time you looked. I hate to keep using exclamation marks but I can’t figure out a better way to describe what we were seeing this weekend than by doing this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mahalo,
Claire
Captain Claire’s Humpback Fact of the Day: Most Humpbacks are “right-handed”. Researchers looking at abrasions on Humpbacks’jaws found more abrasions on the right jaw than on the left, and observed more“flippering” with the right flipper than with the left, suggesting a definite right-side preference among the Humpback population.

Humpbacks – Babies, Breaches, Lunges and Songs

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 Humpbacks and Lots of Surface Activity

Aloha,
We all had a lot of fun on Thursday’s Whale Watches. On the 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales trip on Seasmoke, we saw 35 Humpbacks, 2 competitive pods, 12 breaches from a sub-adult whale, pec slaps, head lunges, tail lobs and peduncle throws. Our hydrophone allowed us to listen in to some very close-by and very loud songs. On our 10:00 Whale Watch, guests saw 18 whales, 6 breaches, 6 spy hops, 3 body lunges, 4 head lunges and 4 Cow/Calf pairs, one of whom was accompanied by an escort. On our 3:00 Whales and Cocktails cruise we saw 16 whales, 4 breaches, 7 tail lobs, 2 pec slaps and we also got to hear some really loud songs.
Join the friendly crew of Ocean Sports for a whale watch you’ll never forget. Call us at 886-6666 ext. 103, or visit www.hawaiioceansports.com to reserve your adventure today.
Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: Being mammals, Humpback Moms feed their calves milk. But Humpback milk isn’t just any old milk — it’s extremely rich with a fat content of approximately 50%! Human milk is only about  4.5% fat.
Mahalo and have a wonderful weekend!
Captain Claire

Laughing Humpbacks

Aloha,
Wednesday brought us some great whale action. On our 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales, we saw 15 different whales and got to watch a competitive pod form before our eyes. It began with 2 whales (and we watched as a third joined in). About 10 minutes later, we were MUGGED by a whale who on his way to join our trio, seemed interested enough in us to swim back and forth right under the boat twice giving all of us a great view — if whales could laugh, this whale probably would have been giggling as he watched 49 people run from side to side on the boat to see him). Shortly after that, we had a close encounter with 2 more whales who surfaced about 50 feet from us and joined the rest of the gang. We also got to see 7 breaches, 12 pec slaps, 2 peduncle throws — and when we deployed the hydrophone, the singing was loud! At 10:00, guests on our Whale Watch from Kawaihae saw 22 different Humpbacks, 3 breaches, 3 tail slaps and 2 cow/calf pods. They also got to hear a whale symphony — and had one close encounter.
Want to be part of the action? Join Ocean Sports on any of our daily whale watches. Call 886-6666 ext. 103 or visit www.hawaiioceansports.com and reserve a spot today.
Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: The gestation period for a Humpback whale is between 10 and 11 months, which means the calves we’re seeing this year were conceived last winter.
Mahalo,
Captain Claire

More Humpback Babies

Aloha,
What a fun day we had on the water on Monday! Our 8:00 Whales & Cocktails cruise reports seeing 20 different whales. Guests watched a competitive pod of 6 whales (most probably 5 males and one female) chasing each other down the coast. They saw too many pec slaps, tail lobs and lunges to even count. Angelica, our naturalist aboard that trip also reports a close encounter with two whales who came right up to our boat to check us out! On the 3:00 Whales and Cocktails, our guests also had a close encounter with 2 whales who swam about 75 yards from the boat. And they got to see a couple of breaches, some tail lobs and some peduncle throws but their favorite sighting was of a Mom and her very, very young baby. Like all baby animals, whale calves are really pretty active and very cute — our baby made a few attempts at breaching,
Join Ocean Sports for a Whale Watch Adventure you’ll never forget! Call 886-6666 ext. 103 or visit www.hawaiioceansports.com to reserve your adventure today.
Humpback Whale Fact of the Day:  Humpback whales can’t cry — they don’t have tear ducts (they don’t need them — their eyes are always bathed in salt water) but they do have glands on their outer corneas which secrete an oily substance that helps to protect their eyes from debris in the ocean.
Mahalo,
Captain Claire

Mamas and Babies

Aloha,
It was another great weekend for whale watching! Beginning with Friday’s trips…our 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales reports seeing 13 whales mostly concentrated just offshore of the Hilton Waikoloa Village. Guests saw 9 breaches, 4 head lunges, 3 tail lobs, 4 pectoral slaps and had 2 close encounters with our Humpback friends. At 10:00, guests on our Whale Watch from Kawaihae saw 17 different whales, 3 breaches, 4 tail lobs and interestingly, of the 17 sightings, they report 4 different Cow/Calf pods. On our 3:00 Whales & Cocktails, Captain Will reports that the highlight of the trip was when the boat was circled by a Cow/Calf/Escort pod. Guests also saw several breaches just about 400 yards from the boat, and too many tail lobs to count! On Saturday, we saw more action, with the 3:00 Whales & Cocktails trip reporting an astounding 35 different Humpbacks in sight! Besides seeing about 12 breaches in the distance, Angelica, our naturalist aboard that trip, reports a couple of close encounters from two different pods of 3 adult whales, and lots of great fluke I.D.ing opportunities as the whales sounded nearby. On Sunday, we ran a different schedule, so though we don’t have numbers to report, we can say that a LOT of guests saw a LOT of Humpbacks!
Join us on a Whale Watch and see the action for yourself. Ocean Sports offers 3 trips daily just to see the Humpbacks! Call us at 886-6666 ext. 103 or visit www.hawaiioceansports.com to reserve your adventure today.
Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: A Humpback Whale doesn’t reach sexual maturity till it’s about 35 feet long (age 5 or 6 for females, and a little bit later for males).  Researchers believe that most Humpbacks don’t begin calving successfully till they’re at least 10 years old.
Mahalo,
Captain Claire

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

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 Babies and a whale of a fight!

Aloha,
Guests aboard both our 10:00 Whale Watch on Alala and our 3:00 Whales & Cocktails cruise report seeing a Cow and Calf (which is what we call mother and baby whale, though from now on I’ll stick with the unofficial “mom and baby” labels). At 10:00, our Mom let her baby actually come close by the boat to investigate us! We saw a total of 15 whales on that trip, and had one breach within a couple hundred yards of the boat — and saw 5 other breaches off on the horizon. At 3:00, our Mom and Baby were accompanied by 2 other whales. The closer whale (the primary escort) spent more than 30 minutes fighting with the other whale — at one point we could see them banging into each other and one actually lifting the other (think “WWF Wrestling). Eventually the 4th whale gave up and swam away…we also saw 2 breaches within 300 yards of the boat and a couple of peduncle throws.
See the action for yourself! Ocean Sports operates whale watches daily from 2 different locations within the Hawaii islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary Waters. Call 886-6666 ext 103 or visit www.hawaiioceansports.com to get in on the fun.
Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: We frequently see Mom and Baby whale accompanied by a third whale. We used to think it 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).
Mahalo,
Captain Claire