Breach! Image courtesy of Michael Millhouse
Aloha,
We had a busy morning on Wednesday. All three of our catamarans plus Winona from Mauna Lani Sea Adventures were reserved for an Exclusive Snorkel and Whale Watch Adventure Cruise. Since the client requested we all stay together, guests on all 4 of the boats got to see the same Humpbacks.
After boarding and leaving the bay, it didn’t take long before we were all looking at whales. We didn’t want to crowd the Humpbacks, so we just viewed them as we were traveling past…we saw lots of spouts, lots of dorsal fins, and even a few flukes. When we got to our snorkel site, a few guests decided not to get in the water…they were rewarded with views of a Humpback breaching 4 different times a couple of hundred yards away. Finally, on the way back to the bay after lunch, we saw more spouts, plenty of flukes from sounding whales, and even a breach. All-in-all, it was a good day to be on the water!
Mahalo,
Claire
Ocean Sports Whale Fact of the Day: Humpback Whales (and, in fact, all Baleen Whales) demonstrate something called “reverse sexual size dimorphism”. This means that an adult female Humpback is larger than an adult male (by about 5%). Though researchers are not sure of the exact reason for the difference in size, they theorize that the increased size allows the female to store more reserves to feed and care for her calf, and also to give birth to a bigger calf who might have a better chance of survival than a smaller one. Average length for a fully grown female Humpback is around 45 – 50 feet. At her heaviest, she weighs 35 – 40 tons.