We had a fun weekend despite some periods with less than calm seas. As usual, I won’t recap every cruise we ran since it would make this email too long…but there were Humpbacks everywhere we looked during Friday’s Wake Up with the Whales on Seasmoke. Captain Baker reports seeing 5 breaches, and LOTS of peduncle throws, tail lobs and pec slaps. On Friday’s Whales and Cocktails, we found ourselves surrounded by a competitive pod. The water was pretty rough, but we were enthralled by all the action. We got to see these whales bang into each other, hit each other with their flukes, peduncle throw right on top of each other, and even pec slap each other. We’re normally not violent people, but watching all of this was so exciting.

On Sunday’s 12;30 Cruise from Kawaihae,we saw Humpbacks in all directions, including a very active competitive pod, and a younger whale who breached and then head lunged 5 times in a row On our Whales & Cocktails Cruise, Mom and baby were waiting for us at the mouth of the bay. And later in the cruise, we were mugged for more than 20 minutes by two adult Humpbacks who hung out right underneath the stern!

Mahalo,

Claire

Captain Claire’s Humpback 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.