Competition on the Lek

Aloha,
Our weekend of whale watching was windy again…on Friday, it was so windy in fact that the only cruise that went out was a private Whale Watch from 8:00 – 10:00. Guests braving the 35 + knots of wind did see some fun stuff though, including 3 separate pods of cow/calf/escort and breaches from the adults and the calves.
On Saturday and Sunday we were able to run all our cruises but the highlights included sightings of 25 different humpbacks on Saturday’s 10:00 Whale Watch, including 4 different Mom/Baby/Escort pods. At one point we watched as one of these babies dove under her mom (nursing maybe?). At the end of this trip, we found a competitve pod of 7 males chasing a female with her baby. This group was really active, head lunging, bubble blowing, jaw clapping, trumpeting…and they brought their chase right by the boat.
On Sunday’s 10:00 Whale Watch, we saw 14 different Humpbacks. This trip started with some big tail lobs and pec slaps by a couple of big adults. After that we found a curious Mom/Baby pod who cruised back and forth under us a couple of times. Then we found a competitive pod and got to see some huge peduncle throws, a couple of breaches and some head lunging from them. We went right back out again at 12:30 and found the same Mom/Baby we had seen on the first trip right below Kohala Ranch. Once again, Mom let her baby approach us to get a good look, and they both swam under us and around us a couple of times. After that, we found another competitive pod and got to see some motorboating and head lunges from them. And to top it off, accompanying this pod of Humpbacks, we saw 4 pygmy killer whales (a pretty rare sight for us)!
Mahalo,
Claire
Captain Claire’s Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: Researchers note that female Humpbacks in the North Pacific population are seen with their first calf when they’re between 8 and 16 years old (the mean age is 11.8). In the North Atlantic, female Humpbacks give birth for the first time when they’re between 5 and 7 years old.