Aloha,
We woke up to windy conditions on Kalikimaka morning but guests joining on each of our two Whale Watch Cruises got a chance to see some Humpbacks.
On our Wake up with the Whales Cruise we saw a half dozen different whales. The first two we saw were too far away for us to investigate in the windy conditions, but that was ok because on the way out to see them, we found another pod of two offshore of the Mauna Lani Resort area. This pod was spending more time underwater than on the surface, so after waiting around as long as we could, we turned the boat and headed back to the bay. On the way back we saw two more whales spouting and got to watch one lift his flukes as he sounded and the other slap his flukes on the surface before disappearing below the waves.
Guests on our Late-Morning Whale Watch Cruise saw at least 4 different Humpbacks. Again most of what we saw was spouting, but these breathing whales weren’t underwater very long, so we got to see them pretty often. We also got a chance to see two whales lift their flukes waaaay up into the air before sounding for deeper dives.
Have a wonderful weekend — I’ll post our next report on Monday.
Mahalo,
Claire
Ocean Sports Whale Fact of the Day: Why do we get so excited when we get to see a Humpback’s flukes? Well, one of the best ways whale watchers have to identify individual Humpbacks is by the unique markings on the ventral (underside) of their flukes (tails). Currently, the National Marine Mammal Laboratory based in Seattle maintains a data base containing more than 30,000 photos of the North Pacific Humpbacks flukes dating back to 1966, but other researchers, including those involved in the 3 season SPLASH (Structure of Populations, Levels of Abundance and Status of Humpbacks) project have also used these patterns to identify who’s who in the whale world and estimate population levels. You can help researchers tracking Humpbacks too. If you get a good photo of the underside of a Humpback’s fluke, you can submit it to HappyWhale.com.