Aloha,
Guests on Wednesday’s Wake up with the Whales Cruise from Anaeho’omalu Bay had a fantastic on-board experience. We found 2 whales fairly close to the bay, and these two seemed as interested in us as we were in them. They surfaced about 100 yards from us, and then swam right over to take a look at the boat for a good 3 minutes. After they sounded, Captain Will decided to stay right where we were to see what would happen. His decision totally paid off, when the Humpbacks surfaced 20 minutes later right along side us, and spent another 3 minutes checking us out as we checked them out! When we deployed the hydrophone today, we heard some interesting sounds too. If your speakers are on, click here to hear some of what we heard. On our 10:00 Whale Watch from Kawaihae, we searched for humpbacks for a long time and eventually a guest was the first to see a spout. Captain Kino was able to position the boat so that we could see the whale just about 100 yards away when it surfaced. We actually got to see 2 Humpbacks spout, and we got to see them multiple times before we had to hightail it back to the harbor.
Mahalo,
Claire
Captain Claire’s Humpback Fact of the Day: Researchers off the coast of Brazil have discovered that some marine mammals– including Humpbacks– may have up to 14 spleens. Among other functions, the spleen stores red blood cells (which store oxygen)…so an extra spleen may help a deep diving animal stay underwater longer. These spleens can contract during a dive releasing fresh blood with oxygenated red blood cells to keep the whale’s important organs alive and functioning. 14 spleens?! Amazing!