The water is absolutely calm and serene as we make haste to find our two Humpback Whales that were seen in these waters.
Fantastic experience. I am so going to do this again......oh yeah.
When we arrive at the area where they were last seen, the water is still and nothing is going on. Apparently they are on a deep dive which can last about 8-10 minutes. We will moor here and wait.
The reward for patience......a tail in the distance. OMG!
A beautiful tail......
Adult Humpbacks are approximately 12-16 meters long and weigh 36,000 kilograms!
Their pectoral fins can be up to 4.6 meters in length. They use them almost like arms or wings.
An interesting fact that we learned was Humpbacks only feed in the summer in the very cold, polar waters. They will then travel to warmer climates to breed and birth their young during the winter. Amazingly they then fast all winter, living off their stores of fat. Humpbacks will migrate over 25,000 kilometres each year.
Easily identified by its obvious hump and black dorsal colouring.
"Going down for a deep dive.......
Before a ban (which is still in place) was placed stop the killing of Humpbacks, there were only about 5,000 left in the world! Hunted almost to extinction the Humpback is still not entirely out of danger. The 80,000 Humpbacks in their world today are still killed accidentally in fishing nets, ship collisions and also noise pollution.
It is documented that noise pollution can cause a brain bleed in Humpback? Actually, sonars have been a culprit in this terrible fact.
.....and I'll be back soon......
Apparently each Humpback tail is unique.
....don't leave...."
And gone.....but we will wait again for about 8-10 minutes for them to submerge. Humpbacks are known to be very friendly. I think these two are hanging out, quietly swimming around us. Not extremely energetic.....maybe other whale watchers were here today.
The long black and white tail of a Humpback can be up to one third of the size of the whale's body length.
To get an idea of what we see in the above photo.....This is the hump and to the right would be the bulk of the whales body towards his/her head. To the left of the hump we will soon see a tail coming up. When the hump is high in the air, the whale is going deep.
These amazing creatures live anywhere between 45-100 years.
Very different from the Orcas, these whales do not tend to stay in groups or even have a mate for very long.
Both males and females are vocal but only the male has 'songs.' They can sing a song for 10-20 minutes....and sing 24 hours straight!
These songs can travel great distances through the ocean. The purpose of these songs still have scientist baffled.....but have they never seen Star Trek; The Voyage Home????
Humpbacks saved the world, with a little help from Captain James Tiberius Kirk.
Of course Star Trek fans would know this....lol.
Humpbacks can swallow thousands of fish in one gulp!
The head, as seen above (and the lower jaw) is covered with knobs called tubercles....similar to hair follicles. You can see spray coming out of the blow hole.
As per our tour guide, these two Humpbacks will probably head to Hawaii for the winter months. "Hey Alex...watch for whales at Kona."
This is one of the only photos I got that show both Humpbacks together. The one in front is preparing to dive.
The combination of being a powerful swimmer and use of their massive tails, they can actually propel themselves right out of the water.
Tail slapping is also a behaviour known of Humpbacks.
Even though these mammals are incredibly huge, they still have a primary predator......Killer Whales!
Yikes....they are not far from here.
They have actually been known to avoid the areas where Killer Whales are......which Hawaii is. Not many Killer Whales are found in the waters of Hawaii.
Some Humpbacks will actually have scars from unsuccessful attacks by Killer Whales.
The last dive.....
.....and they are gone. And so are we.
Heading home at a speed faster than light. Just kidding....but pretty fast.
Another incredible, experience. I just don't have the words to describe it.
Awesome.
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