Baby Approaches
The ocean was incredibly calm during Monday’s Wake up With the Whales Cruise. We love those conditions because not only does it mean that we can maneuver the boat in any direction, but it also means that we can see the whales from a long distance.
Luckily, we didn’t need to use binoculars on our cruise as we had two great encounters with two different Mom/calf pods. Both Moms were pretty permissive and both babies were very relaxed (maybe taking their cues from the surrounding calm water). We got great views of all 4 of these whales — though at different times. Since the wind wasn’t ruffling the surface of the ocean, we also got to see the whales’ bodies as they swam around and past us.
Of course we took advantage of the seas and deployed our hydrophone to listen in on the Humpback conversation. Though we were looking at Humpbacks close to us, based on the volume and clarity of what we heard, there were several other Humpbacks in our vicinity that were choosing not to surface.
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!