Humpback Head Lunge – Photo courtesy of Susan Bagley
Aloha,
We spent most of Wednesday’s Wake up with the Whales Cruise paralleling a very competitive pod of 4 Humpbacks. Though we saw spouts and flukes from more than 15 other whales in the vicinity, we really couldn’t take our eyes off of these 4 as they lunged around on the surface, competing for dominance. We saw lots of pushing and shoving, and lots of rolling around from these mature and very large whales. When we finally stopped the boat and deployed the hydrophone, the sounds we heard were incredible — lots of variation — everything from chirping to grumbling to moaning to squeaking.
Mahalo,
Claire
Ocean Sports Whale Fact of the Day: Though the Humpbacks we see average between 40 and perhaps 50 feet long, there is anecdotal evidence that the largest Humpback killed by whalers was 88 feet long. This Humpback was taken in the Caribbean.