Season S’not Over Yet!

Aloha,

As we’re getting closer and closer to the end of our Whale Watch Season (our official last day is next Monday, March 31st), we’re happy to report that we’re still seeing Humpbacks during our cruises.

Guests on Thursday’s Wake up with the Whales Cruise got to see lots and lots of flukes from sounding Humpbacks. We also got to see two adult Humpbacks breach about 700 yards from us. When we deployed our hydrophone during this cruise, the sounds we heard were really loud…until they stopped completely. Moments later we saw our singers surface and spout just 100 yards from us.

The Humpbacks were taking some really long bottom times during our Late Morning Whale Watch Cruise — most of the whales we saw were underwater 20+ minutes before coming up to breathe. Several times we got to see (and hear) Humpbacks spouting from about 100 yards away. And we have to admit we were completely surprised when a lone Humpback did a complete peduncle throw just 100 yards from us.

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.