Humpback Changes Her Mind

Aloha,

We took out two boats for Thursday’s Wake up with the Whales Cruises. On Seasmoke, we got to watch a humpback change her mind about us. In the beginning of the cruise, we saw a couple of spouts and headed out towards a Cow/Calf pod. When we got in the vicinity and stopped the boat, baby came right over to us…followed by Mom. They stayed with us for 20 minutes, mugging us. Mom finally had enough of it, and did a peduncle throw towards the boat, pushing baby away with her head. We stayed in the area, and about 20 minutes later, they both surfaced right next to us (apparently she thought we were ok again) and then swam quietly past. On the way back to the bay we got to see a couple of breaches from other whales. Guests joining us on Manu Iwa got to see spouts from 7 different whales. We spend a good 15 minutes watching a Mom and her calf resting quietly on the surface. We also had a relatively close encounter when a BIG lone whale surfaced about 50 yards off our bow. The ocean was really calm, allowing us to deploy our hydrophone and listen to quite a few singers fairly close by. On our 10:00 Signature Whale Watch from Kawaihae we got to watch a very active calf. This little guy breached so many times right near the boat that we lost count. Mom let him come right over to us (we almost could have touched him he was so close).
Have a wonderful weekend. I’ll be sending out the weekend recap on Monday.
Mahalo,
Claire

Hum pback Breach

This image is courtesy of guest Stephanie Collier from her March 29th Whale Watch Cruise with us

Captain Claire’s Humpback Fact of the Day: You probably already know this, but Humpback Whales don’t have teeth – they have baleen. What you might not already know is that Humpbacks 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. Humpback baleen is black.

Rain Doesn’t Bother Whales- They’re Wet Anyway!

Aloha,

How does that song go??? “Oh the weather outside was frightful, but the whales were just delightful…” Well, maybe that’s not the exact song, but it sure describes our Wednesday morning Whale Watch Cruise. On the Wake up With the Whales guests saw more than 15 whales and pretty much every surface behavior in the book except for a spyhop. At one point, Captain Will had the boat idling and glanced at the depth finder exclaiming “There are whales RIGHT under the boat”! We barely had time to react before 4 big adult humpbacks surfaced right next to us! We also got to see a big whale breach just 150 yards from us, and lost count watching another humpback tail lob repetitively in front of the Mauna Lani. But it wasn’t all adult humpbacks who were putting on a show…we saw 3 different Mom/Baby/Escort pods too, and each of these calves were joining in on the excitement.On the 10:00 Cruise from Kawaihae, guests saw 4 different competitive pods. These whales were acting pretty aggressively towards each other — we got to see lots of head lunges, peduncle throws, and bubble streams. We also had a few close encounters with whales surfacing just 100 feet from our idling boat. And though it was still drizzling at 3:00 pm, guests on our Whales and Cocktails Cruise were treated to quite the experience. There were whales spouting in every direction. We were mugged twice — the first time by a pod of adult whales, and the second time by a very curious calf and his mom. Baby circled us several times and even breached twice just 30 feet from our bow.
Mahalo,
Claire
Captain Claire’s Humpback Fact of the Day: According to research conducted in Japan, the peak estrus period for Humpbacks (i.e. when females are in heat) overall, is between the end of January and the end of February, but the peak estrus period for females with a calf appears to be several weeks later. Our frequent observations of pods of Mom and Baby who are accompanied by an escort at that time of year seem to support the validity of these findings. Although, we must take into account that many mature females without calves have already left Hawaii by the beginning of March, so perhaps the males are just accompanying any female they can find.

Humpbacks Celebrate All Day

Aloha,

Tuesday morning brought us some excellent Whale Watching conditions. On the Wake up with the Whales Cruise on Manu Iwa,Captain Will reports seeing 30 to 40 different whales. We couldn’t decide if the highlight of the cruise was being mugged by two adult whales for more than 30 minutes — the water was so clear that everyone could see the whales under the boat even when they were 30 feet deep —  or watching active calves breaching. Guests also saw 12 breaches within about 1/2 mile of the boat, and lots of peduncle throws too. I guess it’s no surprise that guests joining us on Seasmoke departing from the same location at the same time saw just as many whales. We also had a couple of close encounters with Humpbacks coming up to our idling boat to check us out. We saw about 12 different breaches, and 3 mom/baby/escort pods. When we deployed the hydrophone, we heard some really loud singers so we know there were a lot of submerged humpbacks close by too.
On-board naturalist Brooke reports that the 10:00 Signature Whale Watch from Kawaihae was “fantastic” — with a Mom/Baby/Escort pod staying with the boat for virtually the entire cruise. There was lots of other action going on a bit further away, but when whales are right next to the boat, it’s difficult to concentrate on anything else. And on the Whales and Cocktails Cruise we also saw more than 30 different whales. There was a lot of aerial action going on — nothing super close, but we all got to see multiple breaches, tail lobs and peduncle throws, and three different Mom/Baby/Escort pods.
Mahalo,
Claire
Captain Claire’s Humpback Fact of the Day: According to research results released in 2008 by SPLASH (Structure of Populations, Levels of Abundance and Status of Humpback Whales in the North Pacific – a research project involving more than 400 researchers in 10 countries) there are approximately 18,000 – 20,000 Humpbacks living in the North Pacific, with the population wintering in Hawaii seeing a 5.5% – 6% annual rate of increase since the early 1990′s.

Bigger Equals Tougher

Aloha,

It was a calm day on the water on Thursday, and the whales seemed to be enjoying the peaceful seas after Wednesday’s wild winds. Guests aboard our Wake up With the Whales on Seasmoke got to see a LOT of whales. In fact, towards the end of the cruise, I asked everyone how many different whales they thought we actually saw, and all we could agree on was that it was a “bunch”! Most of the whales were just surfacing and breathing before diving again, but we did get to watch the formation of a competitive pod. At first we were just watching 3 humpbacks swimming together, but when a fourth whale joined the pod, the action got a little more intense. They all started swimming much faster, and at one point, one of them lifted his head out of the water and we could clearly see that he was inflating his mouth (for a Humpback, “bigger” equals “tougher”). We also saw several breaches and tail lobs a bit further away.
At 11:00, we took two school groups out for a Whale Watch on Seasmoke — about half of them were 4th graders from Kona Pacific Public Charter School with a few of their teachers and parents, and the other half were visiting 9h graders from a private school in Connecticut. The kids asked some great questions, and  got to view some great action too. We spent a good amount of time watching a Mom/Baby/Escort pod. The escort was substantially bigger than Mom (probably older). For quite a long time, the baby alternated between lying on Mom’s head, and diving down below her (nursing maybe?). We also heard some great sounds when we deployed the hydrophone — lots of submerged singers fairly close by. We saw some breaching, pec slapping and tail lobbing from other adult humpbacks in the distance.
Alala also ran two morning cruises and the boat was “mugged” both times by the SAME Mom/Baby/Escort pod who spent considerable time right under and on the surface – right next to the boat – and below the boat! Fantastic!
Mahalo,
Claire
Captain Claire’s Humpback Fact of the Day: Research suggests that most Humpbacks who come to Hawaii don’t’ spend the entire winter with us. An average stay lasts between a month and 6 weeks. Possible exceptions to this rule include dominant males, who may spend more time here to optimize mating opportunities, and females who give birth after arriving in Hawaii. They might spend a little longer here so that their calves can grow large enough to successfully swim back to Alaska.

Competitive Pod Captivates

Aloha,

For the next three days, there’s a big convention on the island (SAP), so we’re running 9 different Whale Watch Cruises every day. And since it’s still height of the season for the Humpbacks in Hawaii, we’re seeing too much to report in one email…so I’ll just list some highlights from a couple of our trips. On the Alala, guests got to see a Mom/Baby/Escort pod up close. The seas were calm, so we were just idling, and baby kept approaching closer and closer every time he surfaced. Generally, we’ll watch Mom get fed up with that activity and eventually push her baby away, but not today. All three of theses whales came right up along side of the boat and stayed there for quite awhile. We also got to see baby breach several times! On our last cruise of the day on Seasmoke, we saw our first Mom and Baby pod about midway through the cruise, but we spent most of our time watching a competitive pod of 5 whales in a very aggressive chase. These whales didn’t care that we were there as they kept changing directions all around us. We watched one of the big males head lunge with an open mouth right on top of another whale at least a dozen times. We also got to watch lots of shoving at the surface — we could see one of those big guys push his big head right into the side of another whale and shove him aside. The whale in front of the chase (we’re almost positive it was a “she”) expressed her displeasure or excitement or irritation with a couple of pec slaps and peduncle throws…but mostly she just kept changing directions. We finally had to leave the pod to head back to the bay…and on the way back we had a couple more close encounters with a lone humpback, and then with a very small calf and his mom. Baby had a very angled dorsal fin and was pretty light in color so we’re guessing he was pretty young.
Mahalo,
Claire
Captain Claire’s Humpback Fact of the Day: A baby whale, called a “calf” looks so small and cute when seen playing with her Mom. But everything is relative…when the calf is born, she can already be 10 to as much as 15 feet long, and she weighs 2000 to 3000 pounds! The calf is about 26 feet long when it’s weaned (at 10-11 months).

When a Mugging is a Good Thing

Aloha,

We had a great weekend of whale watching. With so many cruises, there’s no way I can recap everything, but here are a few highlights. On Friday’s Wake up With the Whales Cruise on Seasmoke, we got to watch a pod of three whales twisting and turning around each other on the surface. For awhile, two of them were obviously belly to belly and then one was on top of the other — were they mating? On the Whales and Cocktails Cruise on Manu Iwa, we saw two different Mom/Baby/Escort pods. One of the escorts breached three times when he was just 30 feet from our idling boat. We also got mugged by the second pod for more than 30 minutes. All day long, we were seeing whale spouts in every direction.
On Saturday’s 8:00 am Cruise from Anaeho’omalu Bay, Captain Jake had a choice to make when we left the bay. We saw spouts in pretty much every direction, but we went south, and it paid off. We spent most of our time with a competitive pod of 4 whales who were charging around on the surface. We got to see the differences between the shapes of their flukes…and also got to see a bit of a fight. The whales didn’t seem to care that we were idling in the area as they milled about, changing directions, and even surfacing about 30 feet from us and charging towards us before diving. We also saw a whale from a different pod tail-lob 13 times before tiring out, and lots of lunges and peduncle throws from whales further in the distance. On the 12:30 Cruise, lucky guests got to see a whale breach 15 times right in front of the boat, and on the Whales and Cocktails, we were mugged for a good ten minutes by two curious whales who kept surfacing  just 10 feet away from our idling boat.
On each of Sunday’s cruises we saw spouts from more than 2 dozen Humpbacks. On Manu Iwa’s 8:00 Wake up with the Whales Cruise, we all enjoyed the antics of several different calves, but we were totally blown away when one baby approached the boat at the end of the charter. Not only did mom let him come within about 50 feet of us, but she surfaced too…and then one of our guests on the starboard bow noticed a shadow in the water. It turned out to be the escort who cruised under us just 10 feet below the surface. We all got a great look at him as he passed below the hulls. On our special 11:00 Educational Cruise, the Girl Scouts from Ke’eau, and some high school kids from HPA got to see lots of breaching, peduncle throwing and tail lobbing from some very energetic adult whales. We also got to see a couple of yearlings close up when they cruised by our idling boat.
Hope your weekend was as nice as ours!
Mahalo,
Claire
Captain Claire’s Humpback Fact of the Day: According to research conducted by the Nelson Institute of Marine Research, a Humpback’s heart beats an average of 40 bpm, but the whales do experience periods of tachycardia and bradycardia (faster than normal and slower than normal heart rates) during dives.

Humpbacks Singing LIVE

Aloha,

Our week started out really fun. On Monday’s Wake Up with the Whales, we must have seen spouts from at least 2 dozen different whales — maybe more. We saw two different competitive pods of 4 whales each charging around on the surface about a mile from us…and even had one competitive pod duck under the boat. But the highlight of the day was the Humpback who decided to spend 15 minutes underneath us blowing bubbles. We know that a Humpback in  a competitive pod will often blow streams of bubbles through his blowholes and mouth, most likely to disrupt the vision of the whales chasing behind him. And researchers have even seen bubbles coming out of – to put it delicately – the other end of the whale. Our bubble blower wasn’t surrounded by other whales at the time, so we’re not quite sure what he was doing underneath us, but it sure was amazing to see! And on the Whales and Cocktails Cruise, besides seeing a lot of activity, we heard a lot too…listen to this
Mahalo,
Claire
Captain Claire’s Whale Fact of the Day: Ok…so I know this fact isn’t about Humpbacks, but it is oddly interesting to me. Researchers have observed schools of herring, while being pursued by orcas (killer whales), generating extensive gas bubble releases from their anuses (flatulence). Due to the density difference of these bubbles compared to the surrounding sea water, these researchers theorize that the herring gas creates a barrier disrupting the echolocation abilities of the orca,allowing the herring to escape predation. Something to consider if you ever find yourself being chased around the ocean by an orca…

Mugged Again by the Usual Suspect

Aloha,

The weather was absolutely beautiful for our Friday Wake-Up With the Whales. We saw breaching to the north of us as we left the bay so we headed that way, and it really paid off. Not only did we see more breaching, but we also saw a lot of pec slapping from one whale, while two others swung by about 100 yards away. But the best part of the cruise had to have been the whale who decided to look at us from right beneath the boat…for 10 minutes! On Friday’s 10:00 Cruise we found a Mom/Baby/Escort pod right off the Mauna Kea Resort. This pod stayed with us for over an hour, and we got to see baby breach 5 times. Over the course of the cruise we saw 15 different Humpbacks, and lots of pec slapping too. We also found a pod of Mom/Baby/Escort on Friday’s Whales and Cocktails, and we got to see another adult whale breach about 150 yards from us.
On Saturday’s 10:00 Whale Watch, all of us aboard Manu iwa were looking in the right direction for 2 breaches from 2 different whales – both were about 100 yards from us, and both whales got completely airborne! And the theme of Saturday’s Whales and Cocktails Cruise was “Breach”! There was lots of breaching going on in the distance all around us…and we got to see two breaches within about 150 yards of us. Lots of other surface action was going on too…peduncle throws, tail lobs, and even a few pec slaps.
Sunday was pretty great too, with lots of breaching and surface activity throughout the day. We even got to see a couple of competitive pods.
Mahalo,
Claire
Captain Claire’s Humpback Fact of the Day: Though the Humpbacks we see average between 40 and perhaps 50 feet long, there is anecdotal evidence that the largest Humpback killed by whalers was 88 feet long. This Humpback was taken in the Caribbean.

Mugged by a Baby

Aloha,
Our weekend started out, to quote Captain Will, as “CRAZY”. On Friday’s Breakfast with the Whales, we cruised out of the bay and just outside the Hilton we saw a Mom and calf surface about 150 yards from us so we shut down the motors and just drifted. We looked, and looked, and then all of a sudden they both popped up right next to the boat. They swam under us and around us for more than 40 minutes. Every once in awhile, the calf would stop looking at us to breach right next to us! A couple of kayakers paddled by, and the whales left us, and swam right under them (which must have been a pretty intense experience for those people in their little boats), only to return to us for some more viewing. After these whales got enough of us and headed off, we saw another pod of two adult whales tail slapping near Honoko’opae Bay. We also two breaches from some other adult Humpbacks about 800 yards from us.
On Sunday’s Breakfast with the Whales, we got to see a couple of different pods of whales, but the highlight of the trip was watching a full breach just 30 feet (not yards — FEET) off the boat. We also saw flukes and spouts from lots of other Humpbacks cruising the coastline.
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.

Spy Hopping Calf and Bubble Blowing Adults

Aloha,
On Wednesday’s Breakfast with the Whales Cruise, we got to see a baby whale playing around on the surface, rolling over, showing us his pec fins and spy hopping with his little mouth open. We also saw a competitive pod doing multiple “head stands” and tail lobs. On our 12:30 Whale Watch, we were accompanied most of the trip by a Mom/Baby/Escort pod who all surfaced near us multiple times and even accompanied us back to the bay. Then the wind came up — so it was a bit bumpy on our Whales and Cocktails Cruise, but that didn’t stop us from having a fantastic Whale Watch. We took our time getting out of the bay, and finally came across a pod of Humpbacks who apparently decided it might be interesting to dive below our boat and blow some bubbles. Even with the late afternoon glare on the water, it was still possible see to these whales as they floated and swam below the surface. But the highlight of the trip had to have been when these whales surfaced right next to us, “mugging” us. As usual when it’s windy, we also saw lots of splashes from surface active whales a bit further away. We even saw a few tail lobs and pectoral slaps.
Mahalo,
Claire
Captain Claire’s Humpback Fact of the Day: A distinguishing morphological (body) characteristic of the Humpback is the length of her pectoral fins. Their average length is 1/3rd the length of the Humpback’s body (approx. 15 feet). The species name for the Humpback (Megaptera) describes the fin – the translation from Latin for Megaptera is “Big – Winged”).