Humpback Whale Watching...

My first whale watching experience didn't produce actual whale sightings.  Apparently, despite being 79,000 lbs, the Humpback whale can still be an effective hider in a game of hide-n-go seek!  That's fine though, we can't expect mother nature to cooperate as we humans hope it will.  My second time on a whale watching trip contained numerous sightings, which more than made up for the first trip.  I was extremely lucky, and we found several whales that seemed more than happy to approach the boat.  One even swam right under me while I was on the boat.  If a whale gets within 100m of the boat then the motor/engine has to be turned off, which we ended up doing several times since the Humpbacks were coming so close.  It was a huge blessing to see these giants up close, but still in their natural habitat.

Out to sea in Hawai'i Kai Bay.  On the hunt for whales.  Where are those gentle giants?

I'll interpose some facts about Humpback whales inbetween pictures.  Here's the first couple:


Humpback Fun Fact 1: Adults are approximately 40-55 feet in length and 78,000 to 80,000 pounds. Adult females are longer and weigh more than adult males.

Humpback Fun Fact 2: Humpback Whales have a very distinct stocky body shape, made further distinct by knobs along their jaw line (called tubercles) and unusually large pectoral fins.

One of my first up close sightings.  It is an adult whale breaching but I am straight ahead of her so that's
the underside of her jaw which is lighter in color (I say 'her' because she had a calf with her).

Humpback Fun Fact 3: Humpbacks are known for their frequent surface activity during mating and birthing.  Sightings are termed: breaching the surface (ie. coming out of the water), pec fin slaps, frequent blows (ie. from the blowhole) and flukes (ie. when they make their tail visible).

Adults can get approximately two-thirds of their body out of the water during a breach, but the adults I saw on this day didn't come close to that.  They seemed more content with just coming above the water line a little bit, but even that was inspiring to witness.  A calf can often get their entire body out of the water, which I did get to see several times (keep scrolling...there's pictures).

Whale breaching. You can see the knobs on around the open jaw.

Humpback Fun Fact 4: A baby Humpback is referred to as a calf.  Calves nurse from their mother for 6 months after birth.

Whale breach.  Jaw open again.  Wow, this whale picture looks photoshopped but it's not. Ha.

Humpback Fun Fact 5: Humpbacks travel approximately 16,000 miles per year as part of their typical migration patterns.

Beginning of a breach.  Side view.  The dark curved line is the mouth, which is closed.

Humpback Fun Fact 6: There are 4 Humpback groups in the world (based on land boarders, which keep them separated from the other groups): Pacific North, Atlantic, Southern Ocean and Indian Ocean groups.  The Humpback Whales in Hawaii are only present during winter and are from the Pacific North Humpback group.

Humpback Fun Fact 7: Gestation is 11.5 months.  Whales from the Pacific North group give birth in the Hawaiian waters during January and February (which makes February and March the prime whale watching times).

When they come down from a breach, they make a large splash.  Often even larger than this.

Humpback Fun Fact 8: Males and females vocalize but males are famous for singing in 10 to 20 minute continuous bursts which have been observed to go on for hours at a time.  The purpose of these long vocalizations is unknown, but is possibly related to mating.  Maybe they just enjoy singing?

Here you can see the mother's dorsal fin (center), calf's dorsal fin (just to the right of the mother), as well as a mist of water still in the air from when the mother blew water from her blowhole (far right).  

While this blog has many pictures of the breaches, most of the sightings were just like the picture above: barely visible dorsal fin under a plume of water from the whale's blowhole.  That's actually the easiest way to first spot them: look out to the horizon for water being blown upward.

Humpback Fun Fact 9: Humpback whales are typically loners.  After nursing, Humback whales rarely stay together, but in instances where they've been observed to stay in a group it only lasts for a short period of time (usually a few hours).

I was lucky enough to observe a very energetic calf, who was more than happy to show off his breaching skills.  This little guy breached out of the water constantly for about 30 minutes.  Reminded me of a 3 year old on a sugar high.

Humpback Fun Fact 10: Humpbacks were almost extinct due to whaling by many countries.  A moratorium on whaling was developed by many contries in 1966, but as of 1988 they were still "endangered."  They were upgraded to "vulnerable" in 1996 after many conservation efforts.  In 2008 they were upgraded further to "least concerned"....whatever that means?  The population is still hampered by illegal hunting, physical pollution, noise pollution, collisions with ships and entanglement in other fishing/ocean equipment.

Several things happening in this picture: 1. you can see the mist from the adult's blowhole (center)  2. You can see the calf breaching out of the water, and about to land on top of the mother  3. The mother is doing a "pec fin slap" which is the large fin extending upward, behind the calf.  
Humpback Fun Fact 11: Experts believe there are approximately 80,000 Humpback Whales living in the various groups around the globe.

Calf mimicking mom: synchronized pec fin slaps.

Humpback Fun Fact 12: They feed on krill and small fish, but only eat in the summertime in the polar waters.  They fast the rest of the year (that's a really long time not to eat!)

Pectoral Fin on the left and half of tail visible on the right.

Humpback Fun Fact 13: Humpbacks have very few natural predators.  Their predators in the wild are mainly humans and Orcas (ie. Killer Whales).  Sharks are a lesser predator and tend to just be opportunistic, feeding on the weak, young, injured or already dead carcasses. 

This whale is upside down and slapping both pectoral fins at the same time
(when swimming the white sides of the pectoral fins face down)

Humpback Fun Fact 14: They migrate to tropical and subtropical waters to mate and give birth.  The waters around Hawai'i are densely populated by Humpbacks in the winter for two reasons: 1. The shallow warm waters, 2. Predator free area (sharks stay in deeper waters and orcas don't migrate here).

One last picture of the calf playing around in the distance.

It was a huge blessing to see these gigantic creatures at play.  Mahalo for visiting and I hope you enjoyed the pictures.

A Hui Hou!   (goodbye until we meet again)