Playful Calves

Aloha,

Tuesday morning was a great time to be on the water on the Kohala Coast! We took out two boats for our Wake Up with the Whales Cruise from Anaeho’omalu Bay, and though we went different directions, guests on both cruises got to see a wide variety of surface behaviors from Humpbacks of all ages. On the Manu Iwa, we saw 25 different Humpbacks, including one Cow/Calf/Escort pod with a very active little calf. This guy did several tail lobs (which are really cute when you see a calf do them). We also got to see some whales that appeared to be as long as our boat (50′) — including one who surfaced about 25 yards from our idling boat, and then came up to get an even closer look. On Seasmoke, we also saw more than 20 different Humpbacks within 3/4 of a mile. We spent a considerable amount of time at idle, watching a Mom/Baby/Escort. We knew baby was pretty young because he still had a bent over dorsal fin. Mom looked to be pretty young herself (she was only about 35 feet long). Our second Mom/Baby/Escort pod came across us a little later in the cruise. Baby breached 5 times very close by (he kept trying to get closer), and we all got a great view of his ventral pleats (the “lines” we see on his belly). We also had several close encounters with solo whales who surfaced very close by at different times throughout the cruise.
Mahalo,
Claire
Captain Claire’s Humpback Fact of the Day: We’ve never witnessed a Humpback taking care of two calves. We know she could conceive twins (and whalers occasionally would find twin fetuses) but we doubt she could carry twins to term. And even if she could, we really doubt she could produce the 200 gallons of milk she’d need each day to feed two calves!

elisa thompson

Spinners and Humpbacks Swim Together

Aloha,

Monday morning brought us some windy conditions at Anaeho’omalu Bay, but guests joining us on Seasmoke’s Wake up With the Whales got to see some pretty fun surface activity. Throughout the two hours, we saw spouts from 10 different whales. The highlight of the cruise was a pod of three that just sort of surfaced out of nowhere erupting into a peduncle throw battle. These whales were on a 7 minute dive pattern and surfaced pretty close to where they dove each time, making us wonder what was going on underwater during all those 7 minute dives. We also saw a few nice fluke dives from a solo sub-adult . On the 10:00 Whale Watch from Kawaihae, we spotted Mom and her calf just outside of the harbor. They were moving very slowly north, so we paralleled them until they dove. They surprised all of us when they popped up on the other side of the boat accompanied by an escort. On our Whales and Cocktails Cruise out of Anaeho’omalu we saw whales before we even left the bay. We were enjoying watching one whale at the surface when Captain Ryan spotted a huge pod of Spinner Dolphins behind us. As we turned to go take a look, a Humpback surfaced in the middle of the pod. The dolphins stayed with that whale in pretty much the same spot for over an hour and a half, jumping and spinning frequently. We watched the whale surface a lot too and kind of twist around before making a shallow dive. By the end of the cruise, our whale was joined by 4 other whales and the dolphins were STILL there…dolphins and whales together for 2 hours…incredible!

Mahalo,
Claire
 
Captain Claire’s Humpback Fact of the Day: Though Humpbacks come to Hawaii primarily to have babies and make babies, and though researchers have watched them closely here since the early 1970’s there are no documented observations of Humpbacks mating or calving!

Intense Sightings All Weekend

Aloha,

The whales were everywhere this weekend, and we ran a lot of different cruises, so I’ll just recap highlights from a few of them. On Friday’s10:00 Whale Watch, Captain Baker reports seeing a couple of pods of 3 whales harassing each other for the duration of the cruise which provided lots of surface action to watch. Guests also saw one whale do a complete breach just 120 yards from the boat. This guy was totally out of the water, and everyone got to see it (which is kind of unusual; it’s much more common that most of us are looking a different direction until we hear the shouts from the lucky people who see the whale’s rostrum exit the water)! And on the Whales and Cocktails Cruise we saw lots of spouting and lots of fluking. We also got to see 2 lazy breaches from a whale about 200 yards away from us. He only got half his body out of the water, but he did land on his back both times.
On Saturday’s 10:00 cruise from Kawaihae, we started out with a single whale who breached 4 times in a row, and then did 7 peduncle throws — which certainly got our attention. But after that expenditure of energy, he just swam down the coast spouting and diving. Then we found a pod of Mom/Baby/Escort offshore of the Mauna Kea Resort. We watched the interaction between the 3 of them for the rest of our cruise.
On Sunday’s Wake up With the Whales, we hardly got a break from the action the whole trip. Not only did we see every surface activity in the book, but we had a whale breach not more than 100 feet from us, and at one point two whales surfaced just in front of our idling boat while one whale was tail lobbing right at our stern. On the 10:00 Cruise from Kawaihae, the whales were eerily quiet — until the last 30 minutes when a sub-adult started doing peduncle throw after peduncle throw. Some of us counted 15 — some of us counted 17. By our 3:00 departure for the Whale & Cocktails Cruise, it had gotten kind of windy,and the Humpbacks were reflecting that energy. We watched at least 6 pods of two whales, plus a few competitive pods — and according to Captain Mark, saw lots of tail lobs, peduncle throws, head lunges and breaches from these pods.
Mahalo,
Claire
Captain Claire’s Humpback 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 have observed that most Humpbacks in the North Pacific don’t begin calving successfully till they’re at least 10 years old – the mean average is 11.8 years. In the North Atlantic, Humpbacks generally give birth for the first time between ages 5 and 7.Baby Breaches

Welcome to the first Baby of 2015 (that we’ve seen)

Aloha,

We took a step back from watching whales on Tuesday to take in the view. Clear blue skies, Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa capped with snow, and calm seas. But of course, the presence of the whales just added to the beauty. On our 10:00 Whale Watch, we saw 6 different adult humpbacks. They all spent a good amount of time underwater, but we did get good views of their blows, dorsal fins and tail flukes. One whale surfaced about 100 yards from our idling boat, and we got a great view of his head and blow holes too. We also went out in the afternoon on a private Whale Watch. Guests aboard Seasmoke got to see a Mom/Baby/Escort pod just off of Hapuna. We haven’t seen many calves yet this year, so were especially excited to see this little guy.
Mahalo
Claire
 
Captain Claire’s Humpback Fact of the Day: We frequently see Mom and Baby whale accompanied by a third whale. We used to think this 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. Though a new mom rarely gets pregnant perhaps due to infrequent ovulation, researchers believe that perhaps the male whale is “hoping to make a good impression” so when she is receptive, he may be the first to mate with her.

New Humpback Research Published

Aloha,
On Wednesday’s Breakfast with the Whales Cruise, we watched a Mom/Baby/Escort pod. As is often the case when we get to see this particular grouping of whales, Mom does a lot of shallow dives, but the escort will actually show his flukes when he dives (he goes deeper and the researchers suggest that the vertical flukes-up dive is the optimal position to be in when beginning one of those deep dives). We did see the escort’s flukes, and knowing that the pattern on his tail is unique to him, we hope to recognize him again this season. We also saw spouts and dorsal fins from some other whales a bit further away from us. On our Whales and Cocktails Cruise, we found a different Mom/Baby/Escort pod just as we left the bay. They were heading north slowly, so we paralleled their path and watched them for most of the cruise. We also saw some spouts from a couple other big adults who were cruising in deeper water..
Mahalo,
Claire
Captain Claire’s Humpback Fact of the Day: Researchers just published results of a study identifying the core bacterial communities living on Humpbacks’ skin regardless of which ocean the whales inhabit. Though they aren’t sure exactly how these bacteria interact with the whales, it is possible that the bacteria may be the reason the skins of the whales don’t get overwhelmed with organisms (the way boat hulls do). Also, by identifying the bacteria living on healthy whales, the researchers may have a new way to identify stressed and less healthy whales (by comparing the types of bacterial colonies from skin samples). In case you’re curious, the bacteria are Tenacibaculum and Psychrobacter (neither of which are found on the skins of healthy humans).

Competitive Pod Forms Before our Very Eyes

Aloha,
On our Wednesday 10:00 Whale Watch, we saw 8 different whales. As we exited the harbor, we turned south and just cruised the coastline watching multiple spouts, dorsal fins and flukes as these whales surfaced and dived. Just before the trip ended, we saw what everyone hopes to see on a whale watch — a full breach. And then another full breach…and then a third full breach! On our Whales and Cocktails Cruise, we found a Mom/Baby/Escort pod just outside of the bay. We paralleled them, staying with them for almost the entire cruise. We actually got to watch a competitive pod form, as other males in the area located Mom. By the end of the cruise she had 4 males chasing after her and battling among each other for that prime escort position.
Mahalo,
Claire
Captain Claire’s Humpback Fact of the Day: According to the experts at NOAA, in 1966 when commercial whaling was finally banned, the Humpback population in the North Pacific was estimated to be fewer than 1400 individuals.

What do Warthogs have in Common with Humpbacks?

Aloha,
We experienced some pretty breezy conditions on Monday, so we only were able to operate our two morning Whale Watch Cruises. Our naturalists are still reporting lots of spouts, but we’ve been noticing that the migration back to Alaska is in full swing. Generally the whales we see later in the season are pods of Mom/Baby/Escort, and lots of lone whales (who researchers are now identifying as alpha males that are optimizing mating opportunities before migrating north). We’re also seeing lots of competitive pods associating and disassociating as they battle to establish dominance among themselves. When we are able to deploy our hydrophone, we’re hearing a lot of singers too. We’ve always maintained that though it’s sad to say Aloha to our Humpbacks, the last three weeks of every season does bring some exciting surface action. Combine cute curious calves with an uneven ratio of males to females, and add in some desperate-to-mate male Humpbacks, and we get the recipe for incredible whale watches!
Mahalo,
Claire
Captain Claire’s Humpback Fact of the Day: Starting out as a way to pass time between whale sightings and hunts on the whaling ships in the mid18th century, “scrimshawing” (or the art of carving intricate designs on to whale teeth, bones and baleen) survived until the ban on commercial whaling went into effect. The etched designs were originally produced by sailors using sailing needles, and were colored with candle soot and tobacco juice to bring the designs into view. Today, hobbyists still create scrimshaw — but they use bones and tusks from non-endangered and non-protected animal species like camels, buffalo and even warthogs.

Feeding Techniques of the Humpbacks

Aloha,
Thursday’s Whale Watch Cruises were pretty mellow. We’re still seeing lots of pods of Mom/Baby/Escort. These pods are interesting to watch as it’s often difficult to determine exactly who is leading the pod. Yesterday’s calves were rolling around a lot on the surface, and from our vantage point, it looked like their Moms were just trying to keep up with them. When we were lucky enough to see the escorts surface, they were usually in the rear, and the Moms most often were positioned between the escorts and their calves. We also saw a lot of spouts, dorsal fins, and flukes from lone whales. Since research has shown that females without calves leave the breeding grounds after mating (presumably successfully), we’re guessing that a lot of these loners are males trying to optimize mating opportunities. We did see some splashes more distant from us – some of these were caused by whales breaching, and some by peduncle throws. When we were able to deploy our hydrophones, we heard lots of loud clear songs, and lots of other background songs, so we know there are still plenty of whales around South Kohala.
Mahalo and have a great weekend!
Claire
Captain Claire’s Humpback Fact of the Day:Researchers watching Humpbacks feeding in Stellwegan Bay (off the coast of Massachusetts) documented a variety of previously unknown feeding techniques along the seafloor. Humpbacks there weren’t just bubble-netting. They were spending a lot of their feeding time totally submerged. With the aid of “Critter Cams” the researchers were able to document three distinct feeding approaches: simple side-rolls, side-roll inversions, and repetitive scooping. Why does this matter? Now that we know how Humpbacks move when they’re underwater, we can take steps to reduce their vulnerability to entanglement to bottom set fishing gear.

Humpbacks Look for Attention

Aloha,
Guests aboard our Wednesday Whale Watches did see a lot of Humpbacks. On our Breakfast with the Whales Cruise, we saw at least 20 different Humpbacks, but according to our on-board naturalist Captain Mike, they were all pretty mellow. Just after we left the harbor, a pod of Spinner Dolphins found our boat, and as usual, seemed to think we were an interesting object to play with. We had lots of bow-surfing, and lots of jumps and spins all around us from the dolphins. After they left, we were approached by a couple of big whales, who surfaced about  20 yards from us– followed by a close encounter with a Mom/Baby/Escort pod. If that weren’t exciting enough, we saw a couple of total breaches just 300 yards away. As we cruised back to the harbor, we saw lots more flukes and spouts from various whales who were cruising the coastline. On the 10:00 Cruise, we spent our time with two different Mom/Baby/Escort pods. Both babies were kind of restless, rolling around a lot on the surface. And on our Sunset Cruise, we were visited by a lone (maybe lonely?) young adult whale. This guy came right up to the boat and spent some time hanging out with us.
Mahalo,
Claire
Captain Claire’s Humpback Fact of the Day: A Humpback whale’s trachea and esophagus are totally separate tubes (unlike ours which meet up in the back of our mouths)…but that also means that a Humpback can only breathe thru her blowholes and not thru her mouth. So how does a Humpback blow a small stream of bubbles from her mouth? Research suggests that a Humpback can move her epiglottis against her soft palate, and channel air thru her larynx to her mouth.

Baleen Revisited

Aloha,
I hope everyone had a good week!
As the winds diminished on Monday, we had some great Whale Watch Cruises. On our Breakfast with the Whales, we saw multiple Mom/Baby/Escort pods – lots of spouting and fluke diving too. On our 10:00 Cruise, we saw more than one competitive pod with the kinds of surface activity you’d expect from male whales in close proximity of each other. We also saw lots of HUGE splashes from surface activity occurring all around us. As more and more Humpbacks leave Hawaii in March, it seems like the whales that are left here are getting more and more desperate to find a mate (or several mates), so the battles between them get more intense. On the Whales and Cocktails Cruise, we enjoyed some time with a Mom/Baby/Escort pod, but saw lots of other flukes and spouts too.
Mahalo,
Claire
Captain Claire’s Humpback Fact of the Day: Humpback Whales don’t have teeth — they have approximately 270 – 400 pairs of baleen plates hanging from the top palate of their mouths ranging in length from a foot to about 3 feet long. Where the baleen is attached to the palate, it feels like a horse’s hoof — but it fringes out to form dense mats allowing the whale to “strain the soup of the ocean” when feeding. And in case you’re curious, Humpback baleen is black.