Tag Archives: whale calf

Harbingers — the final report of the season

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Aloha,
We ran our final Whale Watch of the 2011/2012 season on Sunday. Guests aboard our 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales cruise were fortunate to see the harbinger for our 20012/2013 Whale Season…a female Humpback with her small calf. According to our onboard naturalist Angelica, Captain Scotty had to cruise all the way up to Kawaihae to find the whales (the trip departed from Anaeho’omalu) but seeing that little calf travelling quietly with Mom was a sweet experience for all aboard the trip.
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 approximately18,000 – 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.
We feel really lucky that we’ve been able to get a glimpse of the lives of these Humpbacks this winter, and we appreciate everything you’ve done to help Big Island visitors and residents experience these special moments too.
We want to send a Mahalo out to each of you who have made this season possible, a Mahalo to those of you who sent emails with questions and words of encouragement about these reports, and a special Mahalo to researcher Chris Gabriele who read each of my Humpback Whale Facts of the Day, and shared her knowledge of updated research results and techniques.
As we left our Humpback pod this morning, we were escorted by a big pod of Spinner Dolphins…another harbinger. But this time, it was a harbinger of our Summer Season Dolphin Watch Adventures (beginning this Tuesday).
Once again, Mahalo!
Captain Claire

Windy Weather doesn’t stop the Sightings

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Aloha,
We sure had some wild winds this past weekend…which means we didn’t run all our Whale Watch cruises. But when we were running, we saw some great activity. On Friday, guests aboard our 10:00 Whale Watch from Kawaihae saw 11 Humpbacks. We  watched a very energetic calf breach 10 times. We also saw 8 tail lobs, 4 body lunges, 2 head lunges, 3 pec slaps and heard some great vocalizations when we deployed our hydrophone. Oh, and we did see a pod of Spinner Dolphins when we first left the harbor. On Saturday, the winds starting coming up early, but guests aboard our 8:00 Whale Watch saw 6 Humpbacks pretty far from the coastline. We did see splashes (but we weren’t close enough to determine how the whales were making them). On our Whales and Cocktails cruise, we saw 7 Humpbacks, and had 3 close encounters. We all got very excited when a whale decided to breach 105 yards from our boat. We also saw a couple of pec slaps and some tail raises. And we ran a special trip on Saturday afternoon for the Rotary Club out of Kawaihae. The Rotarians saw 3 whales — a Mom and her calf, and later a lone whale. But when we deployed the hydrophone, we heard quite a bit of vocalization…which means the whales are still close by. And on Sunday, guests aboard our 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales cruise battled the windy conditions but saw 4 Humpbacks and  2 full breaches about 100 yards from the boat. On our 3:00 Whales and Cocktails cruise, guests saw 8 Humpbacks and 7 peduncle throws.
Join Ocean Sports for a Whale Watching Adventure. Call us at 886-6666 ext. 103 or visit www.hawaiioceansports.com to reserve your spot today.

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.

Mahalo,
Captain Claire

Jaw clapping, lunging, breaching and Singing

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Aloha,

Our weekend began with an incredibly calm Friday morning — so calm, in fact, that some of our whales seemed lulled into sleep (or at least a deep doze). Guests aboard our 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales cruise encountered a whale behaving very unusually. He (or she) was lying on the surface in the typical “sleep” posture, breathing occasionally. But every minute or so, he was raising his caudal peduncle (the thin part of the tail) and lightly slapping his flukes on the water. As he drifted by us (we had our engines off so as not to disturb him), he began breathing really heavily — it sounded like snoring! We saw 20 whales on that trip, and a couple of pec slaps too. On the Whales and Cocktails cruise, we found 4 different Cow/Calf/Escort pods, and followed some pretty heavy competition from a different competitive pod. On Saturday, we began our 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales cruise with a sighting of a tiny calf literally just outside the Bay in about 40 feet of water! We were speculating that Mom had to be holding her stomach in to not be scraping up against the reef. After watching baby, Mom and escort surface a few times, we spotted a competitive pod of 4 whales — one of whom was inflating his mouth with air and then clapping his jaw shut (another aggressive display). We also saw a calf from a different pod breach 3 times in a row (although the last attempt resulted in sort of a half breach/half splash). This baby was curious about us, and led Mom and the escort right under our bow. Total whale count for that trip was17. On our 10:00 Whale Watch, we saw 8 Humpbacks, and really enjoyed the time we spent with a pod of Spinner Dolphins. While we were watching the dolphins surfing on our bow wake, a couple of Humpbacks popped up very close to the boat, and the dolphins decided it was time to play with the whales! On our 3:00 Whales and Cocktails, we saw 12 whales, but spent almost the whole trip watching a competitive pod of 5 whales. There was lots of jaw clapping and throat inflating from one of those whales, and we finally saw 3 breaches as we were returning to the Bay. On our Sunday 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales, we saw 14 different whales, but spent most of the trip with a Cow/Calf/Escort. We watched as another male tried to join the group, exuberantly breaching about 100 feet from our boat! Towards the end of the charter, we encountered a competitive pod of 3 whales and saw some lunging and general “shoving around” (though we know that’s not the technical term for what we were seeing). On the 10:00 Whale Watch we saw 6 different whales, and to finish off the weekend, on the 3:00 Whales and Cocktails, we saw 11 whales, but our most exciting siting was when Mom, her baby, and an escort swam right along side the starboard side of the boat!

 

Join Ocean Sports for a Whale Watch during the height of our Whale Watching Season. Call us at 886-6666 ext 103 or visit www.hawaiioceansports.com to reserve your adventure today.

 

Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: I’ve talked a lot about the song that only the male Humpbacks sing, but Humpbacks of both genders vocalize. In 1986, researchers off the Maui coastline broadcast the sounds that female whales make while they’re feeding — the sounds attracted all kinds of male whales. We’re not sure if those males were attracted to the sounds of females feeding because the Humpbacks are fasting and hungry while they’re here, or if they were attracted to the sounds of females feeding, because it’s mating season!

Mahalo,

Captain Claire

Rorquals competing

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Aloha,
We loved whale watching on Tuesday! We started the day with our 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales cruise where we saw 16 whales and encountered two competitive pods. They put on quite the show — breaching, pec slapping, tail lobbing and throwing their peduncles. Our naturalist Angelica reports there were so many whales in every direction that we all were getting “whale whiplash” as we tried to keep track of all the sightings! On our 10:00 Whale Watch, our guests saw 15 whales, but the cutest stuff happened when a calf decided it was time to breach, perform tail lobs and head and body lunges. We loved watching Mom push her baby around with her head through the water. We also heard some excellent singing…and got to see two spy hops. Our naturalist Meagan, aboard our 3:00 Whales & Cocktails cruise said that this trip was “THE BEST WHALE WATCH EVER”! We found ourselves surrounded by a very competitive pod of whales who, in the midst of their fights for dominance, performed more breaches than anyone was able to keep track of, along with pec slaps, tail lobs and peduncle throws. The female in the group was using our boat as a barrier to block the males…and everyone even got hit with the spray from their spouts as those whales swam by. What a day!!!
Experience the excitement of a Whale Watch with Ocean Sports. Call us at 886-6666 ext. 103 or visit www.hawaiioceansports.com to reserve your adventure today.
Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: You may have heard the term “rorqual” applied to Humpbacks. The word “rorqual’ is derived from a Norwegian word meaning “furrowed” and describes the grooves that run from a Humpback’s chin to her navel. These grooves are actually pleats of skin that allow the whale to expand its mouth size when feeding, but when not in use, allow the Humpback to maintain a more streamlined shape.
Mahalo,
Captain Claire

Season of Love

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Aloha,
Monday’s whale watches started out with a great show right outside the bay. On our 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales, our guests had a close encounter with a competitive pod of 4 whales who swam right by us, slapping their tails and pectoral fins. We then encountered a pod of 2 whales who met up with a pod of 3 whales at which point a fight ensued. We’re not very violent people, but we found ourselves yelling “Fight! Fight! Fight!” as we watched the incredible interaction between those whales. We ended that trip watching a very cute little calf and his Momma. Baby made some little pectoral slaps and tail slaps as we all said “Awwww”. On our 10:00 Whale Watch we saw 14 whales, including 3 Cow/Calf/Escort pods. When we deployed our hydrophone, we heard some very clear songs (which means there were some submerged males close by). And on our 3:00 Whales and Cocktails, guests saw a dozen Humpbacks, including a very active competitive pod. Looks like we’re in the season of love for those whales!
Join Ocean Sports on a Whale Watching adventure. Call us at 886-6666 ext 103 or visit www.hawaiioceansports.com for reservations today.
Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: According the the website of the International Whaling Commission (the international agency overseeing whaling) the only countries with people allowed to hunt Humpbacks under the Aboriginal Sustenance Hunting program are a tribe in Greenland (who are allowed 9 West Greenland Humpbacks annually for the years 2010-2012), and the Bequian people of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, who are allowed a total of 20 Humpbacks between the years 2008 and 2012. The next meeting of the sub-committee overseeing these quotas will take place from June 20th to the  27th, 2012 in Panama City.
Mahalo and Aloha,
Captain Claire

More Humpback Babies

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Aloha,
What a fun day we had on the water on Monday! Our 8:00 Whales & Cocktails cruise reports seeing 20 different whales. Guests watched a competitive pod of 6 whales (most probably 5 males and one female) chasing each other down the coast. They saw too many pec slaps, tail lobs and lunges to even count. Angelica, our naturalist aboard that trip also reports a close encounter with two whales who came right up to our boat to check us out! On the 3:00 Whales and Cocktails, our guests also had a close encounter with 2 whales who swam about 75 yards from the boat. And they got to see a couple of breaches, some tail lobs and some peduncle throws but their favorite sighting was of a Mom and her very, very young baby. Like all baby animals, whale calves are really pretty active and very cute — our baby made a few attempts at breaching,
Join Ocean Sports for a Whale Watch Adventure you’ll never forget! Call 886-6666 ext. 103 or visit www.hawaiioceansports.com to reserve your adventure today.
Humpback Whale Fact of the Day:  Humpback whales can’t cry — they don’t have tear ducts (they don’t need them — their eyes are always bathed in salt water) but they do have glands on their outer corneas which secrete an oily substance that helps to protect their eyes from debris in the ocean.
Mahalo,
Captain Claire

Mamas and Babies

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Aloha,
It was another great weekend for whale watching! Beginning with Friday’s trips…our 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales reports seeing 13 whales mostly concentrated just offshore of the Hilton Waikoloa Village. Guests saw 9 breaches, 4 head lunges, 3 tail lobs, 4 pectoral slaps and had 2 close encounters with our Humpback friends. At 10:00, guests on our Whale Watch from Kawaihae saw 17 different whales, 3 breaches, 4 tail lobs and interestingly, of the 17 sightings, they report 4 different Cow/Calf pods. On our 3:00 Whales & Cocktails, Captain Will reports that the highlight of the trip was when the boat was circled by a Cow/Calf/Escort pod. Guests also saw several breaches just about 400 yards from the boat, and too many tail lobs to count! On Saturday, we saw more action, with the 3:00 Whales & Cocktails trip reporting an astounding 35 different Humpbacks in sight! Besides seeing about 12 breaches in the distance, Angelica, our naturalist aboard that trip, reports a couple of close encounters from two different pods of 3 adult whales, and lots of great fluke I.D.ing opportunities as the whales sounded nearby. On Sunday, we ran a different schedule, so though we don’t have numbers to report, we can say that a LOT of guests saw a LOT of Humpbacks!
Join us on a Whale Watch and see the action for yourself. Ocean Sports offers 3 trips daily just to see 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: A Humpback Whale doesn’t reach sexual maturity till it’s about 35 feet long (age 5 or 6 for females, and a little bit later for males).  Researchers believe that most Humpbacks don’t begin calving successfully till they’re at least 10 years old.
Mahalo,
Captain Claire