Tag Archives: whale body parts

Competition and Wild Surface Activity

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Aloha,
Our Wednesday whales seemed to have moved up the coast… After 3 days of great viewings near Anaeho’omalu, yesterday, guests aboard our 10:00 Whale Watch on Alala which departed from Kawaihae Harbor were treated to sightings of 6 different whales. Jonathan, our naturalist aboard that trip, reported that guests got to watch a competitive pod of 3 whales — 2 of them sizing each other up and chasing the third. We also saw three complete breaches, two tail lobs, a complete body lunge and a couple of head lunges! When the hydrophone was deployed, singing was detected, but it was pretty faint. Guests aboard Seasmoke’s 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales and the 3:00 Whales & Cocktails Cruises also reported seeing spouts and a few dives.
Join Ocean Sports on any of our 3 daily Whale Watches. We depart from two different locations within the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary Waters. Call us at 886-6666 ext 103 or visit hawaiioceansports.com to reserve your adventure today.
Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: Humpback Whales have two blowholes. Actually, all Baleen whales have two…toothed whales only have one blowhole. Humpbacks use their blowholes like you use your nostrils – they exhale thru both and inhale thru both.
Mahalo,
Captain Claire

12 Different Whale Sightings!

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Aloha!

We had another GREAT day on the water yesterday, and the guests joining us on our 8:00 Whale Watch on Seasmoke were treated to sightings of 12 different whales! But it wasn’t the sheer number of whales that delighted the guests…it was their obvious interest in our boat. After stopping the boat about 150 yards from a pod of whales, 2 big adults approached the boat. According to our long-time Humpback Naturalist Captain Nick, these Humpbacks spent more than 20 minutes circling the boat, and diving between the hulls! The whales got so close that guests could actually see the hairs on the whales’ tubercles…and lots of people onboard actually got sprayed when the whales spouted alongside the boat. Now that’s what we call a mugging!

If you’d like to see photos from this trip, or a video clip, visit Hawaii Ocean Sports on Facebook.

Ocean Sports offers 3 cruises daily to see the Humpbacks from two different locations within the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary. For information or reservations, please call our reservations lines at (808)886-6666 ext. 103, or check us out at hawaiioceansports.com.

Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: All mammals have hair. Humpback Whales are mammals… so where is their hair? Humpbacks have rows of bumps on their chins that we call “tubercles”. Out of each one, sticks a hair that’s about 1/2 inch long that we call a “vibrissa”. Because there’s a nerve ending underneath each hair, and blood flow to the nerve, we know the whales use these hairs to sense something…but we’re not sure what they’re sensing. Quite likely, they use their hairs like cats use their whiskers– to feel some sort of proprioception.

Mahalo,

Captain Claire