Mom and Calf with Escort Underneath – Image Courtesy of Paul Norris
Aloha,
The weather forecasters were correct, and the surf was up on Monday. Those big rolling waves didn’t seem to affect the whales though. Guests on our Wake up with the Whales Cruise saw 7 different Humpbacks. We spent most of our time with a Mom/Baby/Escort pod who seemed content to hang out within 100 yards of us. We couldn’t believe our luck when Baby got a burst of energy and breached not once, but twice, just 60 yards from our idling boat.
We also got to spend time with a Mom/Baby/Escort pod on our Mid-Morning Cruise. Unlike the trio we watched during our first cruise, these three seemed to have a destination in mind. We were able to parallel them as they cruised up the coastline. We got to see the calf quite frequently, Mom a little bit less, and their Escort even fewer times. Each time any of them surfaced though, we were excited to see them…there’s just something about witnessing a Humpback spouting that can’t be beat!
Mahalo,
Claire
Ocean Sports Whale Fact of the Day: Recently, researchers observing populations of singing male Humpbacks were able to determine that immature males will join mature males in singing. The researchers theorize that the entire Humpback population benefits when more males are singing, suggesting that every voice is important as a means to attract females to the “arena” where the males have congregated. Since we know that the females don’t respond to an individual male’s song – it’s not like a songbird’s song, designed to attract a female and repel other males – the researchers theorize that the Humpbacks’ songs are meant to attract any and all females, which in turn, would increase mating opportunities for mature male and female Humpbacks. Though the immature singing males may not get an opportunity to mate, they derive benefits too, since they get to learn the prevailing songs and the social rules of mating.