Tag Archives: whale fight

Fighting Humpbacks and Curious Calves

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Aloha,
Whale Watchers joining us on our trips on Monday were treated to lots of interesting interactions between Cows and their Calves. On the 8:00 Breakfast with the Whales, we saw 12 different whales, but spent most of our time watching a very small calf who seemed very interested in us. Mom was not accompanied by an escort, and baby did all he could to check out our boat, while Mom did all she could to keep him away from us. Meanwhile, we couldn’t move the boat because after stopping about 250 yards from the duo, the baby decided to move closer and closer to us…until Mom finally decided she had enough and literally balanced her baby sideways on her rostrum (her head) and pushed him away from us! We also saw 8 breaches, and 2 pec slaps on that trip. We didn’t get to operate our regular schedule, but on our Afternoon Snorkel Sail we got to watch a competitive pod of 6 whales including a Cow/Calf pair. This time, Mom spent her time keeping baby on the opposite side of her from the amorous males. Later in that trip we watched a pod of two whales fighting! These whales also approached us and everyone on board watched as one of these big adults shoved the other with his head, and then the second whale made a quick turn, riling up the water and shoved right back before hitting the first whale with his flukes! We’re really not violent people, but whale fights are sure exciting to watch!
Join Ocean Sports on a Whale Watch, a Snorkel Trip or a Sunset Sail and experience the excitement for yourself! Call us at 886-6666 ext. 103 or visit www.hawaiioceansports.com to reserve your seat today.
Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: We’ve never witnessed a Humpback taking care of two calves. We know she could conceive twins (and whalers occasionally would find twin fetuses) but we doubt she could carry twins to term, and even if she could, we really doubt she could produce the 200 gallons of milk she’d need each day to feed two calves.
Mahalo,
Captain Claire

Humpback Babies and a whale of a fight!

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Aloha,
Guests aboard both our 10:00 Whale Watch on Alala and our 3:00 Whales & Cocktails cruise report seeing a Cow and Calf (which is what we call mother and baby whale, though from now on I’ll stick with the unofficial “mom and baby” labels). At 10:00, our Mom let her baby actually come close by the boat to investigate us! We saw a total of 15 whales on that trip, and had one breach within a couple hundred yards of the boat — and saw 5 other breaches off on the horizon. At 3:00, our Mom and Baby were accompanied by 2 other whales. The closer whale (the primary escort) spent more than 30 minutes fighting with the other whale — at one point we could see them banging into each other and one actually lifting the other (think “WWF Wrestling). Eventually the 4th whale gave up and swam away…we also saw 2 breaches within 300 yards of the boat and a couple of peduncle throws.
See the action for yourself! Ocean Sports operates whale watches daily from 2 different locations within the Hawaii islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary Waters. Call 886-6666 ext 103 or visit www.hawaiioceansports.com to get in on the fun.
Humpback Whale Fact of the Day: We frequently see Mom and Baby whale accompanied by a third whale. We used to think it was a female helping mom take care of her baby, but now that we can identify gender more easily, we know it isn’t. It’s a male — not Dad — but a “wanna-be” Dad. Mom is capable of getting pregnant right after she gives birth (though she usually waits a year between pregnancies).
Mahalo,
Captain Claire