Mom and Calf – Image Courtesy of Paul Norris
Aloha,
Tuesday’s Mid-Morning Whale Watch Cruise focused on baby Humpback and his Momma. It took us a while to find this duo, but when we did, the little calf seemed quite interested in the boat. He surfaced frequently, and when we finally got to see Mom, she surfaced really close by! We’re always amazed at the size differences between adult Humpbacks and their calves, especially when we get to see them so closely (you can see what we mean by checking out the photo).
Just as we were entering the harbor at the end of this cruise, those of us looking behind the boat got to see several breaches (including a double breach) — the whales were kind of far away, but not so far that we had to strain our eyes to see their bodies.
After that first cruise, we went back out again with some students and their friends from Hawaii Preparatory Academy on a Private Snorkel Cruise. On our way back to the harbor after snorkeling we got to spend a bit of time with a Mom/Calf duo. Baby was surfacing, spouting and diving every 4 minutes, and Mom surfaced once for every 3 times her baby surfaced. Just as we had to head to the dock, Mom lifted her flukes and sounded — we all agreed that this was a great way to end our cruise!
Mahalo,
Claire
Ocean Sports Whale Fact of the Day: Most Humpbacks are “right-handed”. Researchers looking at abrasions on Humpbacks’ jaws found more abrasions on the right jaw than on the left, and observed more “flippering” with the right flipper than with the left, suggesting a definite right-side preference among the Humpback population.