Aloha,
Breach at Sunset. Image courtesy of Tim Doyle.
Lots to report from our weekend of Whale Watching, so I’ll get right to it.
- On Friday’s Mid-Morning Cruise we found an energetic Mom/Baby pod early in the cruise. Mom breached twice, and baby, getting in on the fun, breached too many times to keep track of. We also watched a competitive pod of 3 whales chasing each other around on the surface.
- Guests on Friday’s Whales & Cocktails at Sunset Cruise spent some time with Mom Humpback and her boisterous calf. We got to watch the little guy do some head lunges (though we weren’t so sure that those lunges weren’t just unsuccessful attempts at breaching). We also got to watch some bigger whales, including a breacher, and were totally surprised by a logging (sleeping) whale on our way back in to the harbor.
- We spent quite a bit of time with a Mom/Calf/Escort pod, all of whom were on the surface a lot during Saturday’s Wake up with the Whales Cruise. We also watched a pair of breaching whales about 800 yards away from us. We would have liked to have gotten closer, but between the brisk north winds, and the northwest swell, there really wasn’t a good way to get there comfortably. We saw lots of spouts and dorsal fins from whales in other directions, but it wasn’t till the end of the cruise that we got a good view of a sounding whale’s almost-all-white flukes.
- Guests on Sunday’s Wake up with the Whales Cruise saw tails everywhere…just lots and lots of big, beautiful sounding whales. It was pretty windy near Anaeho’omalu Bay, so after motoring into the wind in the beginning of the trip, half way through the cruise, we turned and put the boat in idle so we could drift back towards the bay. Shortly after that…BOOM…a huge whale breached right next to our starboard hull…it was so sudden, but so close, that it appeared to be in slow motion, and we all got to see it.
- Finally, on Sunday’s Mid-Morning Cruise, we spent some time with a pod of two whales who were surfacing, spouting, and then diving for 15 minutes at a time. Their activities weren’t completely in sync but it was pretty obvious to us that they were together. We also got some great views of a big lone whale who surfaced within about 20 yards from our idling boat, showing us her very white flukes as she sounded. Since she had short bottom times, we got to see her (and she got to see us) several times before we had to head back to the harbor.
Mahalo,
Claire
Ocean Sports 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!