Aloha,

Our Valentine’s Day Whale sightings were all about whale love (some love between adults, but a lot of love between Mom and Baby). On our 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales, we saw about 20 different whales, but got to witness a competitive pod of males trying to interact with a female. We saw lots of tail lobs, and 3 breaches right outside of the Bay. On our 10:00 Whale Watch from Kawaihae, we saw 6 Humpbacks, but spent most of our time watching a very protective Mother and her baby. We were very quiet, so we wouldn’t disturb them, and Mom and Baby were surfacing just to breathe — it might have been nap time for that little guy! We did deploy our hydrophone on the trip, and the songs we heard were really loud (which indicates there were some submerged adult males fairly close by). On our 3:00 Whales and Cocktails cruise, we witnessed another competitive pod — this one had 4 males chasing after Mom and her baby. We got to see the typical Humpback bullying behavior — lots of shoving and splashing. At one point, the calf started lagging behind a little (just too tired from all that swimming) – and Mom kept veering off to keep herself between the males and her calf.

Feel the excitement of a Humpback Whale Watch on any of the Ocean Sports 3 daily Whale Watch Cruises. Call 886-6666 ext. 103 or visit www.hawaiioceansports.com to reserve your adventure today.

Humpback Whale Fact of the Day:  A humpback whale’s trachea and esophagus are totally separate tubes (unlike ours which meet up in the back of our mouths). We have an epiglottis which protects our lungs from accidental inspiration of food or liquid – Humpbacks don’t need one…but that also means that a Humpback can only breathe thru her blowholes and not thru her mouth.

Aloha,

Captain Claire