Tag Archives: pectoral slap

Did we see Humpbacks Mating?

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Aloha,
Thursday brought us some interesting whale sightings. On our Breakfast with the Whales Cruise we saw more than 20 different whales, but spent most of our time paralleling a competitive pod of 7 whales that included a Cow/Calf pair. These whales used our boat a lot (which was really exciting) diving back and forth underneath us. We also saw several breaches and tail lobs from some whales a bit further away. As if all that weren’t enough, we were accompanied by a pod of Spinner Dolphins on the way back to the bay.
On our 10:00 Whale Watch we watched lots of pods of two. Most of them were just cruising at the surface heading every which way…so Captain Baker decided to head to the south. We had several close encounters with whales spouting and surfacing right behind the boat and right along side, and we got to see multiple breaches and tail lobs from different whales within about 500 yards.. After cruising along for awhile, we decided to stop the boat and drop the hydrophone. We were delighted to hear several singers (we knew a few of them pretty close by since the sounds were so loud). While we were listening, two Humpbacks started interacting with each other just about 100 yards away. One of them spy hopped several times, but what was so interesting was the way in which these two whales were interacting. The spy hopper rolled on his/her dorsal side (back) just under the surface of the water, and we could see just the tips of her curled pectoral fins. Meanwhile, the other whale appeared to be floating just on top of the first whale, They did this several times, alternating with gentle pectoral slaps and sideways fluke dives (we could see just one half of the fluke). We really wished we could have seen what was going on below the surface!
Finally, on our Whales and Cocktails Cruise, we spent a lot of time watching a calf breaching over and over and over again. This little guy had energy to burn as he breached more than 20 times and threw in a few tail lobs for good measure.
Mahalo and have a great weekend,
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, interestingly enough there are no documented observations of Humpbacks mating or calving! Those of us lucky enough to have been on today’s 10:00 Whale Watch left the boat wondering if what we were witnessing was Humpbacks mating!

Mystery of Meaning of Humpback Song Solved!

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Aloha,
The ocean calmed down for us on Thursday, and we were able to run 5 great Whale Watch Cruises. When there are that many cruises, there are way too many details to list in an email update so here are a few of the highlights.
On Manu Iwa’s 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales Cruise, we had a moment between sightings, so we dropped the hydrophone into the water. The vocalizations we heard were really loud and clear. And we may have had a break-through in animal-human communication when Captain Will put the telephone next to the hydrophone. We use a Google Voice Mail transcription service to log our reports…and when the song the whale was singing got transcribed, here is what Google said we were listening to…
Yeah, hey hello, hello hey hello a hello. Hey, hey. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hmm. Hey, this is why I will report for tonight and January will call our number is. Play message
Apparently the mystery of the whale song has been solved…the whales are just saying  “hello” to each other!
The highlight of our 10:00 Whale Watch on Seasmoke had to have been all the surface activity. Mike reports multiple breaches, tail lobs, pectoral slaps and peduncle throws. There was activity on the surface in every direction! And on our Whales & Cocktails Cruise, we encountered a competitive pod that was just breaking up…the two rejected males swam off separately, and the whales we are assuming to be the victorious male and the female swam away together in a different direction. That was fun to watch, but while we were floating motionless, we got a huge surprise when a BIG whale surfaced 30 feet behind our stern! S/he must have thought we were interesting because s/he stayed at the surface looking at us for a long time. Finally, after several spouts s/he arched her back and lifted her flukes to begin a long deep dive. We all got a great look at her tail (which is about 15 feet wide) as she dived.
Mahalo and have a great weekend!
Claire
Captain Claire’s Humpback Fact of the Day: When we say we heard LOUD singing, just how loud do we mean? Well, Humpback whales have been recorded producing sounds at around 185 decibels. Because the decibel scales use different references for sounds underwater than through the air, that’s the equivalent of about 123 decibels for us on the surface…which is as loud as the amplified music at a rock concert when you’re standing directly in front of a tower of speakers.

Lots of Competition

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Aloha,
With the challenging weather conditions on Tuesday, we were only able to run one Whale Watch Cruise – but it was a good one! Guests on Tuesday’s Breakfast with the Whales were fortunate enough to watch a competitive pod of 6 whales. As usual, with a competitive pod, there was a lot of surface activity going on – pectoral slaps, peduncle throws, and even a couple of tail lobs. We also saw a couple of breaches, but they were from whales that were further away.
Mahalo,
Claire
Looking for Hawaii’s Best Whale Watch Cruise? Call Ocean Sports at (808)886-6666 ext. 103 or visit www.hawaiioceansports.com today!
Captain Claire’s Humpback Whale Fact of the Day:The Humpbacks we see off Hawaii’s coastlines travel quite a bit between the islands, but researchers have yet to observe a directional trend. In other words, some whales travel North to South, some South to North, and some travel back and forth…a lot like our human visitors.

Female Humpback Uses the Boat for Protection

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Aloha,
Guests on board Monday’s 10:00 Whale Watch from Anaeho’omalu Bay got to see a competitive pod of 6 whales about 3 miles offshore of Keawa’iki (south of the Bay). A very big female (with her calf) appeared to be using our boat to shield herself from those 4 male humpbacks (we didn’t mind – we were happy to be of service). The whole pod actually stayed with us for awhile – and we saw a lot of head lunges from the group. We also saw about 15 other whales spouting and fluke diving throughout the trip. Over the years we’ve noticed a pattern of Humpback arrivals that seems to be playing out this season as well,. Every year we notice an abrupt increase in population density at the end of the first week of January (we’re not sure if the Humpbacks are timing their arrival with the departure of all our holiday visitors….).
On the Whales and Cocktails Cruise, we saw 6 whales, but the one that stole the show was a very active sub-adult. This whale must have breached 10 times right in front of us. He also did multiple pectoral slaps and tail lobs, and surfaced more than once right next to the boat – and this activity went on for close to 40 minutes, making for a really exciting trip!
Mahalo,
Claire
Captain Claire’s Humpback Fact of the Day:  One of the questions we get asked most frequently on whale watches, is “Why are the whales doing that?” (and for “that”, you can substitute any whale behavior we see…breaches, head lunges, peduncle throws…etc). Since we really can’t ask the whales (well, we can ask, but they aren’t answering) we tend to interpret behavior based on what else is going on in the whales’ lives at that particular time. Humpbacks are in Hawaii to mate, calve, and take care of their babies. Aerial behaviors often result in big splashes which may be a great way for a whale to communicate size, status, location, excitement, aggression, irritation, or health to other whales (or to something/someone else he hears on the surface).

Competition and Migration Order

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Aloha,
Well after a long weekend of high surf, we were finally able to go Whale Watching again. On Monday’s Breakfast with the Whales, we really didn’t see anything till the very end of the trip. Just as we were pulling into the bay, guests saw a breach and some splashing on the horizon. We really didn’t think that this qualified as a Whale Watch, so even though we shared lots of information with our guests, Captain Ryan called the trip a “Fluke” and everyone aboard has been invited back again on another Whale Watch with us for no charge. On our 10:00 Whale Watch from Kawaihae, guests saw 2 Humpbacks…and on our Snorkel Cruise from Anaeho’omalu guests also saw 2 Humpbacks (always a treat, since we really aren’t searching for them…but when the whales find us, we’ll definitely stop to watch them)! We ended the day with a great show on the Whales and Cocktails Cruise. Our onboard naturalist Angelica reports that we found two Humpbacks together. There seemed to be a bit of a competition going on (maybe they were trying to determine who was dominant) – we saw a pectoral slap and a couple of head lunges from one of these whales. And then a third whale showed up in the area…and perhaps announcing his presence (or maybe expressing aggression or excitement) did a full breach!.
Mahalo,
Claire
Captain Claire’s Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: According to researchers, the first whales to arrive in Hawaii each year from Alaska are females with a yearling, followed by sub-adults (the teenagers of the whale world). The next to arrive are mature resting females (ovaries and mammary glands show no signs of recent activity) followed by mature males, and finally late pregnancy stage females.

Little Eddie Steals the Show

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Aloha,
The wind just hasn’t quit in Waikoloa, so we ran our Tuesday trips out of Honokohau Harbor (which is just south of the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary waters). On our 10:00 trip we saw two whales, mostly spouting and sounding. But the Whales and Cocktails cruise started with a bang. Just as we left the harbor, we found a very excited calf who must have breached about 30 times (who can keep count when there’s that much to see??!!). We stayed with this little guy (who we named “Eddie”) and his mom (who we named “Cindy Lou”) and their escort for the entire trip — well, actually, they stayed with us. Mom didn’t seem to mind at all that we were there, and in fact, at one point she brought Little Eddie right over to check out the boat. We all couldn’t believe how active this little guy was..After doing multiple somersaults and waving his little pectoral fins in the air, Little Eddie seemed to decide that laying on his side and watching us watch him was an interesting way to spend his Tuesday afternoon.
Mahalo,
Claire
Captain Claire’s Humpback Whale Fact of the Day:  All these new calves we’ve seen this season bode well for the future of the Humpback population in the North Pacific. 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.

Crazy Calf and Lots of Surface Activity

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Aloha,
We had two really run Whale Watches on Thursday. On our 10:00 Whale Watch from Kawaihae, we saw a total of 8 whales — two of them were a mile or so away, but the other 6 put on quite a show. We watched a very active calf (think of any hyperactive 2 year old human kid you’ve ever met and you’ll get the idea). This baby pec slapped, double pec slapped and tail lobbed so many times that we had to stop counting at 20 for each activity and just enjoy his antics. And as if that weren’t enough, we also saw 3 full breaches just 25 yards from the boat from a couple of adults. An on our Whales and Cocktails Cruise, as we were making our way out of the bay in the beginning of the trip, we saw a full breach…then a bunch of tail lobs…then a bunch of peduncle throws about 500 yards from us. The whales kept this up…but they were moving at about the same speed we were, so we got to watch a lot more of this activity from about 500 yards away. We did have one close encounter on this trip, when a smaller whale surfaced just under 100 yards from us, blew, and dived again. In all, we saw 15 different whales on this trip.
Mahalo and have a wonderful weekend. I’ll send out a weekend recap report on Monday.
Claire
Captain Claire’s Humpback Fact of the Day:  Why would a whale waste the energy to throw the back half of his or her body out of the water in a Peduncle Throw (sometimes repetitively)?? Since the whales aren’t telling, all we can do is try to interpret their behavior in terms of what else is going on in their lives at that moment. We know that Humpbacks very rarely eat while they’re in Hawaii, and since a Peduncle Throw is a huge expenditure of energy (if you don’t believe me, try it yourself next time you’re in the ocean), it’s got to be important to the whale. Throwing half of yourself out of the water results in a huge splash and might be a way to communicate location, health, excitement, aggression or irritation to near-by whales. Especially if the near-by whale happens to be so near that he gets landed upon!

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Aloha, We had some interesting activities to watch on Wednesday’s Whale Watches. On our 10:00 Whale Watch we saw 6 whales. We watched a few competitive pods fighting amongst themselves. If you’re a Humpback, you don’t have claws or teeth, so the only way to “win” a fight or express dominance is to shove the other guys around (think pro-wrestling). From our viewpoint, this competition is really exciting. Five or six 60,000 – 70,000 pound whales pushing each other and slapping at each other right next to the boat is really exciting! We went out again from 12:30 to 2:30 and got to see another competitive pod. This pod had 4 whales in it, and they also were really active at the surface. We saw 4 tail lobs from them, and a couple of times we saw a pectoral slap (the pectoral fin is what would be an arm on a human). The water was so clear that we could see the outlines of the whales as they swam under the surface close to the boat. And on our Whales and Cocktails Cruise we witnessed yet another fight. This time, we stayed with a competitive pod of 4 whales and watched them battle. We saw 25 tail lobs, lots of pectoral slaps, and lots of bubble blowing (again, an aggressive maneuver for the Humpbacks). According to Captain Will, who was on all of these cruises, this was the “best day so far this season for whale watching”…and it’s only going to get better!
Mahalo, Claire
Captain Claire’s Humpback Whale Fact of the Day : Humpback Whales (and, in fact, all Baleen Whales) demonstrate something called “reverse sexual size dimorphism”. This means that an adult female Humpback is larger than an adult male. Though researchers are not sure of the exact reason for the difference in size, they theorize that the increased size allows the female to store more reserves to feed and care for her calf, and also to give birth to a bigger calf who might have a better chance of survival than a smaller one.

A New Year and a New Calf

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Aloha,
Our 2013 Whale Watches began with sightings of 5 different Humpbacks on our Breakfast with the Whales Cruise. We also saw a breach off in the distance on this cruise. On our 10:00 Whale Watch on Alala, we were delighted to see 2 whales…Mom and her baby. Our onboard naturalist Jonathan reports that the calf was very young – perhaps just a few days old, since it was still very grey and still had the natal folds indicative of a newborn (when the baby slides out of its mom’s birth canal, he’s really wrinkled from his time in the womb – it takes several days for the wrinkles to smooth out). This little calf was very active too…performing 3 tail lobs and 2 little pectoral slaps. Since Mom and baby were just over 100 yards from the boat, we also got to see the little guy’s head poke out of the water a few times as he tried to get a better look at us! We finished the day with our Whales and Cocktails Cruise, where everyone enjoyed seeing spouts and flukes from several different whales.
 
Join Ocean Sports for Hawaii’s Best Whale Watch Tours. Call us at (808)886-6666 ext. 103 or visit hawaiioceansports.com for information and reservations.
 
Mahalo,
Claire
 
Captain Claire’s Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: The gestation period for a Humpback whale is between 10 and 11 months, which means the calves we’re seeing this year were conceived last winter.
 
 
 
 

Lots of competition and a dinner of whale meat?!

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Aloha,
Wednesday’s Whale Watches began with a “Great Show” according to Captain Jeff Baker. Guests aboard our 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales cruise saw 20 whales and encountered a very active competitive pod of 6 whales. As usual, when we get to see a competitive pod, there’s lots of splashing, shoving, and jockeying for position among the whales as the males try to get close to the female. And since the whales are swimming hard, they’re on the surface breathing a lot too (just like when you run fast, your breathing rate increases). We even got to hear the “trumpeting” sound the whales make when they exhale forcefully, trying to catch their breath. On our 10:00 Whale Watch, we saw 12  different whales, 3 breaches and 3 tail lobs and then encountered a competitive pod in which we saw 4 body lunges, 5 head lunges and 2 pectoral slaps — exciting stuff. We also saw a couple of Cow/calf pods and heard some great sounds when we deployed our hydrophone.
Join Ocean Sports for an adventure on a Whale Watch you’ll never forget! Call us at 886-6666 ext. 103 or visit www.hawaiioceansports.com for reservations and information.
Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: In 1918, in effort to stockpile more beef, mutton and pork to send to the American troops fighting the 1st World War, the US government sponsored a luncheon at the American Museum of National History in New York featuring Humpback Whale meat. Several dignitaries were invited (including Admiral Peary) to feast on the menu created by the Head Chef of Delmonico’s, and were quoted saying the meat tasted like pot roast or venison. During the luncheon, the museum’s “reliable sources” reported that if all of the 7 operational whaling stations on the Pacific Coast began processing whale for food (instead of for fertilizer), more than 20 million pounds of whale meat could be distributed to the American public during the summer months alone at a cost of 12.5 cents/pound. The idea never really caught on with the American public though.
Mahalo,
Captain Claire