Aloha,
Guests on Tuesday’s Wake up with the Whales Cruise saw more than 15 different Humpbacks — maybe 20. We enjoyed watching them surface, spout and sound between 200 and 400 yards from us on all sides of the boat. They seemed to maintain this pattern for almost the whole cruise, and then as we were heading in, we were surprised by a trio of BIG Humpbacks who decided to take a look at us. They surfaced just 30 feet from our bow, spouted, and dove. I wish I had the words to describe just how exciting and incredible it is to hear those spouts so close by, and to see the whales virtually eye-to-eye. I guess it’s something you just have to experience to understand…
Mahalo,
Claire
Captain Claire’s Humpback Fact of the Day: Traditionally, the Hawaiian people did not hunt whales. It may be because they didn’t like the taste of the meat, or it may be because the spirit of the whale was so powerful…But if a toothed whale did end up on a beach (whether it died at sea and was blown ashore, or actually beached itself), only the ali’i (royalty) were allowed to possess any part of the whale. Carvings made from a whale’s tooth called “Niho Palaoa” brought mana (roughly defined as a “spiritual force”) to the both the carver and the wearer of the pendant.