Aloha,
It was yet another windy weekend here in Waikoloa, but we did manage to have some good times on our whale watches. On Friday, guests aboard our 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales trip saw 5 Humpbacks. We saw 3 breaches in the distance, but watched 2 whales lob their tails about 50 or 60 times (there was way more action than we could keep track of)! On our 10:00 Whale Watch from Kawaihae, we braved the gusty conditions and headed out to sea where we saw 4 whales, 2 breaches and 2 head lunges. But our favorite part of the trip was watching a Mom and her Baby accompanied by a pod of Melon Head Whales (these are smaller, toothed whales identified by, you guessed it — their melon-shaped foreheads). On Saturday’s Breakfast with the Whales cruise, we saw just one whale, but s/he spent considerable time with us. The whale was on a 5 minute dive pattern, so we saw lots of surfacing, spouting and flukes, and lots of beautiful footprints. According to our onboard naturalist Angelica, this was a big Humpback with flukes measuring a good 15 feet across. On Sunday’s 10:00 Whale Watch, we didn’t see any Humpbacks, but we did see a super-pod of more than 200 Spinner Dolphins North of the Harbor. The dolphins stayed with us for about 15 minutes as we headed North, and then as we headed back to the harbor, we got to see them again! And on our 3:00 Whales and Cocktails, we found 4 whales, including an unescorted Mom and Baby. They spent some time near our boat, giving us 3 close encounters.
Join Ocean Sports on a whale watch before the season ends! Call us at 886-6666 ext. 103 or visit www.hawaiioceansports.com to reserve your adventure today.
Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: Those lines we see under the Humpback’s mouth are actually pleats that allow for the expansion of her mouth when she feeds. This expansion, combined with her ability to flex her jaws, allows her to hold up to 15,000 gallons of sea water in her mouth at one time — that’s the equivalent of 160,000 cans of Diet Pepsi (or Budweiser) in every gulp — of course, she doesn’t swallow the water she gulps…just the unlucky fish that had been swimming in it.
Mahalo,
Captain Claire
P.S. Keep those Humpback questions coming…there’s only two weeks left of the season!