spinner dolphins | Big Island Whale Watching

Aloha,

The first week of September brought us a mixed bag of dolphin encounters. The strong trade winds caused a couple of our trips to be cancelled (we don’t want to disappoint our guests) but when we did get to go on the Dolphin Watch Adventure, we had some INCREDIBLE encounters! Yesterday, we took advantage of the great ocean conditions and the dolphins’ natural curiosity about our boat, and spent over an hour cruising North from the harbor with a pod. We got to see the usual lazy morning aerial displays, and enjoyed watching the dolphins watching us! If you’ve never seen dolphins from the vantage point of the boat, take a look at this short video shot by our own Reservations Department Manager, Judy B. and you’ll quickly understand how special the Dolphin Watch Adventure really is!

Join us on our next scheduled Dolphin Watch Adventure, departing from Kawaihae Harbor at 8:00 am on Sunday 9/9! Call 886-6666 ext. 103 or visit hawaiioceansports.com for more information and reservations.

Mahalo,

Captain Claire

Dolphin Fact of the Day: Spinner Dolphins (Stenlla longirostrus) are often seen travelling with another species of dolphin, commonly called Spotted Dolphins (Stenella attenuata). The two species of dolphins have been observed to act aggressively towards each other, but they’ve also been observed mating (though researchers haven’t been able to determine whether the interspecies copulation is actually an example of unwanted/unsolicited dominance behavior).

Aloha,

Monday’s Whale Watch trips were a lot of fun. On our 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales cruise, guests saw 23 different whales, but we spent most of our time with a Cow/calf pod who had attracted the interest of two males. We were able to determine who was the primary escort, and watched his attempts to keep the other whale away. Meanwhile, Mom and baby seemed to want nothing to do with either of them, and Mom used our boat a couple of times as a blocking aid. We saw a double breach, 3 single breaches, and a couple of pectoral slaps from the adults, and then a couple of half-completed tail lobs and a really small pec slap from the baby. When we deployed the hydrophone, we heard a couple of whales loud and clear! On our 10:00 Whale Watch we saw 13 whales. 4 tail lobs, 5 breaches. a pec slap and 2 peduncle throws. We also saw Spinner Dolphins and heard some great whale songs when we deployed the hydrophone. Things seemed to quiet down in the afternoon, but guests aboard our 3:00 Whales and Cocktails cruise saw 12 whales, 3 pec slaps and had 2 whales swim so close by that we could hear them breathing!

Join Ocean Sports to see and hear the Humpbacks. Call us at 886-6666 ext 103, or visit www.hawaiioceansports.com to reserve your adventure today.

Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: Researchers report that Humpbacks in Alaska can consume a ton of food in a day. Their diet consists mainly of very small fish like herring — based on the calorie count of herring, a Humpback in Alaska is consuming 1,500,000 calories each day!

Mahalo,

Captain Claire

Big Island Whale Watching

Hawaii Humpback Whale and Spinner Dolphin Sightings and Statistics from Ocean Sports Whale Watch Cruises.

Tag Archives: spinner dolphins

Spinners, Spotted, and Video too!

Male Humpbacks acting out during Mating Season