Tag Archives: Mom/Baby/Escort

Mom’s, Calves, and Escorts

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Aloha,
The weather returned to normal on Monday, and the Humpbacks were out in full force. On our Breakfast with the Whales Cruise, we were surprised by a calf that wanted to take a look at us. Mom and the Escort also surfaced close by. We got to see another Mom/baby pod on this trip as well as a few tail lobs and a spy hop from another big adult Humpback.
 On the 10:00 Whale Watch from Kawaihae, we saw more than 20 different Humpbacks. Most of them were in pods of two, just cruising along the surface. We did see two different Mom/Baby pods and neither of them appeared to be accompanied by an escort. We also saw 3 pectoral slaps from a fairly young whale (not a calf – but this whale had a short “arm”).
We went out again in the afternoon, and this time we saw 10 different whales. We spent some time watching a small Mom and her calf, and were very surprised when Mom did a fluke dive. First of all, females with calves rarely lift their flukes when they dive – that’s the posture Humpbacks use to begin a longer deeper dive, and Mom doesn’t leave her baby near the surface unless she’s close by. The other reason we were surprised to see her flukes is that when she lifted her tail, we realized that she was the SAME whale we had seen a few days ago off of Anaeho’omalu Bay. The right side of her fluke had a chunk missing and it sure appeared to be an old injury from an encounter with an Orca. Since this whale was really small and accompanied by a very small calf we hadn’t seen the last time we saw her, we’re guessing this may be one of her first calves…and that she gave birth very recently. We’ll definitely be on the look out for her the next couple of days.
Mahalo,
Claire
Captain Claire’s Humpback Fact of the Day: The most recent (2008) International Whaling Commission estimate of the total world-wide population of Humpbacks is between 112,000 and 180,000.

Baby Whales Entertain Themselves

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Aloha,
There was a lot going on this past weekend with the whales. On Friday’s Breakfast with the Whales, guests saw at least a dozen different Humpbacks, including a few who decided to surface right next to us. On our 10:00 Whale Watch, we got to watch our favorite pod – Mom/Baby/Escort. The baby was really small, but really active – trying, in his uncoordinated way, to breach a few times just 20 feet from our boat. The escort was HUGE – one of the biggest whales we’ve seen in a long time. We also got to see lots of surface activities from other adult whales – breaches, pec slaps, peduncle throws, and even a spy hop. When we deployed the hydrophone, we heard some great sounds. On both Friday’s Whales and Cocktails, and Saturday’s Breakfast with the Whales, we got to watch a  Mom/Baby/Escort pod. Friday’s pod was really active, but Saturday’s pod was just cruising on the surface (though they were surfacing frequently about 100 yards from us). And we finished a GREAT weekend of watching whales with a Double Breach (that’s two whales breaching at the same time) just 120 yards from the boat on Sunday’s Whales and Cocktails!
Mahalo,
Claire
Captain Claire’s Humpback Fact of the Day: In August 2008, the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) changed the status of the Humpback Whale from “Vulnerable” to “Least Concern” reflecting the general upward trend of population levels. According to IUCN standards, animal populations in the “Least Concern” category are at a low risk for extinction. The IUCN classifies the status of humans in the same category.

Accompanied by Whales

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Aloha,
We only got to operate 2 Whale Watches on Christmas Day, but they both were great trips! Our Breakfast with the Whales Cruise started off with a bang. We were about a mile or so offshore of the Hilton Waikoloa Village resort when we all got to see a very big whale breach about 100 yards off our bow! This whale was accompanying a pod of two other whales – Mom and Baby, The trio stayed with us for more than a half hour, and at one point, the escort surfaced very close to us. We also saw lots of good fluke dives from him. On our 10:00 Whale Watch from Kawaihae, we were accompanied by two whales who seemed pretty interested in what we were doing out there, since they stayed with us for over an hour. Our onboard naturalist, Adam, reports that one of these whales had a “mangled fluke” – the left side of his fluke had what appeared to be a healed-up injury from an entanglement at one point in his life. The old injury didn’t appear to be impairing his swimming – and we’ll definitely be on the look out to see if we can find him again.
Mahalo,
Claire
Captain Claire’s Humpback 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 dating back to 1966, 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  Humpback population levels.

Escorted Pod

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Aloha,
Guests aboard our Whale Watches on Tuesday so the whole gamut of whale behaviors. On our 10:00 Whale Watch, we watched two whales on the move for pretty much the entire trip. These two would surface simultaneously, spout two or three times, and then do a shallow dive (we didn’t see their flukes) and stay underwater for 20 minutes, only to surface again further down the coast. They were in a real pattern…staying underwater the same length of time between breaths…and travelling about the same distance before surfacing each time. On our Whales and Cocktails Cruise, a pod of three whales found us – Mom, Baby, and Escort (the whale we call the “Escort” is almost certainly not the father of the calf – but he is a male who is hanging around Mom for as long as she’ll let him – I’ll tell you more about this in today’s fact of the day and in future emails).. They were very active – we saw multiple breaches, pec slaps, shark finning (that’s when the whale turns sideways just below the surface showing only half of his fluke and it looks a lot like a shark fin) and head lunges. Mom was a big whale, but her baby was really small. Captain Ryan said it was “the best trip [he’s] had so far all season”!
 
Mahalo and Mele Kalikimaka!
Claire
 
Captain Claire’s 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. Though a new mom rarely ovulates, 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.