Aloha,We didn’t operate any cruises on Sunday, but guests who chose to join us on Saturday’s Wake Up with the Whales Cruise saw lots and lots of breaches and spouts in the distance. We tried traveling out to see our first distant breacher in hopes she’d continue her activity once we got there, but it didn’t work. By the time we arrived to where we had last seen her, she had disappeared from sight, so we turned the boat around and headed closer to shore. We saw a pod of Spinner Dolphins right outside of Anaeho’omalu Bay and watched them for awhile. While we were watching them, we saw a pair of Humpbacks on the surface. This duo was completely synchronized in their surfacing, spouting and sounding. And…while we were watching these two, a third whale swam right under the boat. We all got a good glimpse of him before he headed out to deeper water.
Mahalo,
Claire
Ocean Sports Whale Fact of the Day: When you see the spout from a whale, you’re actually looking at an interesting combination of things. Some of what you’re looking at is condensation from the whales’ lungs (the same thing you’re looking at when you see your own breath after exhaling in a cold environment); some is atomized ocean water (Humpbacks live in a wet world, and there’s always some of the ocean pooled on top of their blow holes when they surface); and…since Humpbacks don’t have cilia in their respiratory tracts (little hairs)…a lot of what you see (and occasionally feel) is actually mucus! And though it may sound kind of yucky, researchers in the last couple of years have been using drones they call “SnotBots” to fly over spouting whales to collect mucus samples. Since mucus contains DNA, hormones and bacteria, the samples can be analyzed to determine the whale’s health, stress levels, and even pregnancies. Click on the photo above to learn more about “SnotBots”.