Aloha,
We operated just two dedicated Whale Watch Cruises this past weekend and both were on Saturday. Guests joining us on the Wake Up with the Whales Cruise didn’t have to wait long between sightings. Throughout the course of the cruise, we must have seen at least a dozen and a half different whales and at least 45 different instances of spouting and sounding from these Humpbacks. Most of them were in pairs (including one Mom/baby duo). We saw some breaching too, but most of it was at least 400 yards away from us. We had one close encounter when 3 Humpbacks surprised us by surfacing and spouting just about 40 yards from our idling boat.
We had lots of sightings of spouting and sounding whales during our Late-Morning Whale Watch Cruise too, but everyone onboard agreed that the highlight of the cruise was the time spent with us by a Humpback calf, her Mom, and their Escort. Maybe it was the shape of our hulls underwater that piqued baby’s interest, or maybe it was all the noise emanating from our excited guests (and crew) that drew her over, but whatever the cause, this little calf did an entire circle around our boat 10 feet away and just under the surface, clearly looking at us. Momma tolerated this exploration but never strayed more than 25 yards from her calf — and the escort stayed about 25 yards from Mom. We hope baby learned what she wanted to learn, but we certainly won’t object if she finds us again for another investigation.
Mahalo,
Claire
Ocean Sports Whale Fact of the Day: Researchers have observed that female Humpbacks with calves are accompanied by a male escort about 83% of the time during the winter season in Hawaii. Since nursing moms rarely get pregnant, we’re not sure why these males are hanging around…one theory is that the escort is trying to make a good impression on the female so that when she is receptive, she’ll consider the possibility of mating with him. Other researchers theorize that she puts up with the company of one male, hoping that he’ll scare off other amorous suitors (maybe dealing with one male at a time is better than having to deal with 2, 3, 4 or more).