FOUR Humpbacks whales!!
WOW what an afternoon on the Ohana! The action started nearby with the sighting of a huge feeding frenzy offshore. Shearwaters, pelicans, and gulls are were plunging into the depths to snag small fish from the circling bait ball. In the frenzy was an active hunting pod of Long-beaked common dolphins, making sharp turns and maneuvers through the fish, a perfect lunch. We had a few very quick sightings of the back of a Minke balleen whale- must have been there for the food source as well. While the action happened all around the boat, we got word of a migrating group of HUMPBACK whales just North! As we approached we counted… one, two…three…four!!! The winds had died down so we got PERFECT glassy conditions to view these large adult humpbacks! Blow after blow, they came up to the surface with a force! We were able to get some incredible views, with them going directly below our boat! To end the day, we had an awesome Mola-Mola pass by on the way home.
Our sunset trip was absolutely dreamy! Glassy & calm sea conditions continued throughout the trip! We also had really great visibility making it easy to spot wildlife even from miles away! We encountered 2 Humpback whales! A cow and calf pair! Baby humpback whale was swimming closely next to mom. As mom and calf would go down, they would continuously lift their tail flukes over and over again. We also saw a great feeding frenzy of ~300 long-beaked common dolphins, black-vented shearwaters and the cow & calf pair of humpbacks. Today was one of those trips we will remember for a lifetime, hanging out with the cow & calf pair for a looong period of time and they came up so close to boat! The whales are back in town so please come join us for our next whale watching adventure!
Naturalists,
Brooke & Melissa
