Despite the most recent tsunami warning because of the earthquake in Chile, the beautiful blue Hawaii ocean has resumed its usual allure. With an average visibility of 150 - 200 feet on any given day, Kona’s coast is revered to be the most beautiful water in the state, ideal for snorkeling and whale watching. It is always a special treat when whales pass below the boat, the white flippers are turquiose in color through the crystal blue water.

Humpback whales have been grouping up in large numbers as they chase the females about in hopes of some spring mating before they begin their long journey back north again. A lot of surface activity can be seen even from the shoreline this time of year, from flipper and tail slapping to full scale jumping, called “breaching.” Whales tend to splash in response to other whales moving through the area.

We have enjoyed many close encounters with humpback whales this past week and will continue to relish in their company before they begin to head back to Alaska in April and May. Sea turtles, manta rays and dolphins have also been plentiful in their appearance as of late. Every day provides a bit of a surprise in terms of wild life. Whales continue to reliably make an impression on our crew and our guests.

We will look forward to having you join us on the Big Island for your own personal experience with Dan McSweeney’s Whale Watch. Call 1-808-322-0028 for reservations.

The peak of the annual migration for humpback whales is upon us. February is always a favorite time of the year for Captain Dan, crew, and guests alike. While activity can vary greatly day to day or even hour to hour, overall this is an amazing time of year for viewing humpback whales in the islands. The more whales in the vicinity the more likely they are to interact with eachother. So if you are driving up and down the Kona Coast and seeing big splashes from the shoreline, those are likely coming from humpback whales. Imagine the size of the splash an 80,000 pound whale makes as it jumps out of the water and crashes back down again.

The last couple of weeks have also yielded some interspecies encounters with humpbacks and some of our year-round resident whales. Two such days humpbacks were mixed in with the small pygmy killer whales and bottlenose dolphins (if you remember the television series “Flipper” he was a bottlenose). On another occasion, we came across a group of the small and rare dwarf sperm whale. Another afternoon the tour was privy to a friendly encounter with some of our favorite local pilot whales and spotted dolphins that travel in groups of one hundred or more. And on a few different tours, a whaleshark even made an appearance. Whalesharks are not actually whales, but they are extraordinarily large sharks that feed on microscopic food and get their name from their huge size. While sightings of whalesharks are rare, encounters are usually quite friendly as whalesharks seem to exhibit a lot of curiosity for boats. Combined with encounters with the notorious humpback whales, a better day could day could not be had.

Every day the whales surprise us as to what they are doing, where they are found and even who they are engaging with. We never know quite what to expect. On some days, there are so many whales in the area we are literally having to navigate our way through them and then on the very same day at a different time, we may be hardpressed to find them. What often happens in those rare instances is that a female in estrus has moved in along the coastline, all of the male whales somehow sense her presence and take off after her. As they all go charging down the coast, the area essentially empties out until the males work out their dominance and begin to filter back in to the area again. Some females can come back in to another estrus only one month after their calf is born.

In either event, February is a favored time of year for watching humpback whales in the Hawaiian Islands as there presence of numbers is definitely up. The temperature is just about perfect this time of the year as well. Keep in mind this is the busiest time of year for both the seasonal visiting humpback whales and the tourism rises in the islands as guests leave cold weather areas in favor of the Hawaiian tropical winter. So do book in advance to guarantee yourself a seat on Dan McSweeney’s Whale Watch (1-808-322-0028) or book online at www.ilovewhales.com

We will look forward to seeing you aboard one of our tours on the beautiful Kona coast of the Big Island of Hawaii.

Captain Dan

In Hawaii, it doesn’t get any better than January, February, and March to view the seasonal humpback whales. And while early January is normally the front end of the annual migration, this January has gotten off to a great start with a lot of sightings. Mothers and calves were sighted this year just before Christmas and since then, we have even encountered several mating groups.

Today’s tours both included inter-species encounters with a large group of bottlenose dolphins interacting with the gregarious humpback whales. While such interplay is not common, it is always a treat to witness.

With tourism picking back up in the Hawaiian Islands, we are running a full schedule each week so you have many options to choose from when booking your reservation. But don’t delay, we often do sell out. Contact our reservations office at 808-322-0028 to schedule your whale watch adventure. We look forward to seeing you on the Big Island’s beautful Kona coast.

Aloha from Captain Dan.

Humpback whales are arriving on their breeding grounds from the icy cold waters of the Pacific Northwest and have been coming in slowly but steadily since mid-October. Numbers around the island are still fairly sparce but as every day passes, more and more of them arrive in the Hawaiian Islands. As December turns to January, sightings will be more common place until their numbers peak during the months of February and March.

Amazingly even with the few sightings there have been around the Big Island to date, we have been finding them with relative consistency. And fortunately on the days when we have not been had a humpback in the vicinity, our resident whales have made some grand appearances of their own including the playful pilot whales and the rare dwarf sperm whales. The giant sperm whales have also been offshore; in fact our research boat had a successful satellite tag deployment only a few days ago.

The Hawaiian Islands are an ideal place to view more than a dozen varieties of marine mammals throughout the entire year. Dolphins continue to be among our guests’ most favorite form of entertainment, especially the playful spinner dolphins that frequent the shallow water coastline during the daylight hours.

Wild life is always full of fun surprises. We will look forward to you joining us as a guest aboard one of our whale watch adventures. We have regular trips running Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday mornings and are adding additional trips per demand as our high season for visitors is just beginning to get busy. Call our office at 808-322-0028 for availibility and reservations.

Autumn in Hawaii coincides with the front end of the annual migration of the North Pacific Humpback Whale.  Sightings around the Big Island have been coming in intermittently since mid October.  While still sporadic, their numbers will only continue to increase as November turns to December and December turns to January.

Whale watching tours have resumed again this week in time for the winter season which is a prime time to be in Hawaii.  Call the office for reservations and current trip schedules at 808-322-0028.

Seen most recently by our research vessel are the notorious false killer whales (pseudorca).  Several mammals were tagged with satellite tags on last month’s research project and transmissions from animals are still coming in as recently as early this week.  False killer whale populations are thought to be in jeopardy partly due to being taken as by-catch in long liner fisheries and partly due to high levels of toxicity.  The effort off the Big Island is an attempt to ultimately get protection for this threatened species, while coming to terms with the primary cause of their decline.  Captain Dan has a lifetime of dedication to marine mammal conservation efforts.

Besides pseudorca, our research boat has regular encounters with the resident pilot whales and, of course, resident populations of dolphins seldom fail to make an appearance.  Whether it be the bottlenose dolphin from the television series ‘Flipper’, or our local superstar, the spinner dolphin, often found close to shore during daylight hours, or perhaps the gregarious spotted dolphin most often in the deep, Mother Nature always keeps us guessing.  Any of five species of dolphins are likely to show up on any given morning in any given area.

Whatever your flavor, the Big Island is bound to have it when it comes to marine life.  Some of the most prolific waters in the world with nearly two dozen varieties of marine mammals, a dozen of which we frequently encounter.

We will look forward to having you join us aboard one of our whale watching adventures whether it be in the fall of winter, you cannot go wrong when visiting Hawaii’s beautiful Kona coastline.

This summer has involved numerous research projects  including studying Hawaii’s resident toothed whales and traveling to Alaska, Vancouver, and Washington to revisit the black and white killer whales or orcas with Dr. Robin Baird and Ken Balcomb.

Presently still offshore off the west coast of the U.S. , whale watch trips off the Kona Coast will likely resume this autumn as toursim in the Hawaiian islands begins to increase. 

For more information on excursions this fall and winter, call the office at 808-322-0028 for the schedule and to make reservations.

The transition from winter to spring is always a welcomed occasion when we get to re-visit our familiar resident whales as humpback whales exit the Hawaiian waters to return to their summer feeding grounds of Southeast Alaska.

This spring has been a prolific time for us as pods of pilot and pygmy killer whales, groups of beaked whales, and schools of spotted and spinner dolphins have made regular appearances.

We currently are in the midst of completing one of our on-going research projects where we study Hawaii’s resident species.  In particular, the diving behavior of beaked whales has sparked our interest as they are often the whales implicated in shoreline strandings following naval sonar activity.

Nearing the completion of this phase of our most recent research project, we are likewise putting a temporary close to our tours.  The spring is an ideal time to perform our annual dry dock and maintenance projects or to take our personal hiatus as the visitor counts in Hawaii are low.   We will resume whale watch excursions for the summer when we will run tours a few days per week.  Check with our office for the schedule at 1-888-WHALES-6.

We hope you enjoy your visit and we will look forward to having you on one of our future adventures on Dan McSweeney’s Whale Watch on the beautiful Kona Coast of the Big Island of Hawaii.

Aloha,

Captain Dan

April is a transition month from looking inshore for the seasonal humpback whales that have begun migrating back to their summer feeding grounds to looking offshore for the resident whales that stay in Hawaiian waters year ‘round.

That being said, mid-April has been fortuitous for finding late season humpback mothers and calves.  The youngsters need to do a fair bit of nursing before they have the strength and the blubber insulation for the long journey northward.   Newborns will stay on the breeding grounds with their mothers at least a couple of months before they make the 3,000 mile swim toward the cold water of Southeast Alaska where mothers will resume their feeding after nearly four months of fasting.  You might imagine the strain 100 gallons of milk a day to feed the calf poses on a humpback mother who isn’t eating.  How well the calf does is often dependent on how well the mother did on the feeding grounds the prior summer.  The youngsters born in Hawaii this winter will return to Hawaii next fall with their mothers and will stay with their mothers 12 – 18 months before they are taught to take to food on their own and are weaned. 

This time of year we generally spend the first half of the tour searching offshore for pilot whales, beaked whales, sperm whales, and others and then on the latter part of the tour turn our attention towards the shoreline looking for late season humpback mother and calf pairs and also looking for the entertaining spinner and bottlenose dolphins that frequent the shallow water during the daylight hours.

Aloha,

Captain Dan

March is proving once again to provide remarkable opportunities to witness the humpback whales on their Hawaiian breeding grounds.  Many of the recent sightings have been of larger groups of whales, where males are thought to be competing with each other to gain access to the female.   In other species of whales, males cooperate with each other to mate, but in humpback whales competitive mating groups dictate which male will prove most likely to mate the female.  These larger groups of whales, also called “chase groups” are especially entertaining to watch as males often display in an effort to intimidate one another; they are sometimes seen hitting their huge 800-pound tails on the water, slapping their 15-foot long pectoral flippers, or raising up and lunging their massive heads above the surface, blowing bubble trails to obscure the visibility of fellow competitors, or even launching their 60,000 - 80,000 pound bodies out of the water creating a thunderous splash.   These impressive behaviors are part of a strategy intended to secure the position closest to the female who likely will be receptive to mating the most dominant male.

While humpback whales are in Hawaii seasonally, there are a variety of whales and dolphins that live here year round.  Frequently these “residents” are seen interacting with the seasonal visitors.  Last week, we witnessed an encounter between pygmy killer and humpback whales.  Pygmy killer whales are amongst the smallest of the whales, but what they lack in size they make up for in attitude.  Often seen waiting outside of tuna fisheries for dolphins to escape the nets, pygmy killers have earned themselves an aggressive reputation.

Also seen interacting with humpback whales are sometimes curious pilot whales.  Witnessing the co-mingling of interspecies encounters is always thrilling.  In fact, just last week while waiting for a humpback whale to surface, we had a group of exotic Cuvier’s beaked whales come up near by.  Cuvier’s are rotund in shape, mostly white in coloration, characterized by a lot of scarring and have a single barnacle laden tooth that protrudes from the tip of the jaw that resembles a clown nose.  Some of the most unusual species in the world’s oceans, Cuvier’s beaked whales are the focus of a lot of study over recent years as they are often implicated in strandings following naval sonar exercises.

The bottlenose, spotted, and spinner dolphins are also frequently seen with humpbacks.  These resident dolphins can be seen jumping over the backs of humpback whales or even riding near the face of the whale in a similar manner to riding the bow of a boat where they take advantage of the pressure wave the whale creates as it moves through the water.

Aloha,

Captain Dan

February is a peak month for the influx of humpback whales on their Hawaii breeding grounds.  Every day more individuals arrive in the islands for socializing, mating, and in the case of females calving and perhaps even weaning last season’s calf. 

Many humpbacks that return annually to this warm water paradise are not yet sexually mature, yet they continue to make the 3,000 round trip journey.  Nobody knows why humpbacks leave their cold water feeding grounds; some scientists have hypothesized that calves may not be able to survive the cold water at birth without the one-foot thick layer of blubber insulation the adults possess, but some calves are born in the north and appear to survive just fine. 

Likewise, no one understands why humpbacks choose not to eat while they are on their breeding grounds.  Granted, food is in restricted supply compared to the nutrient-rich icy cold waters of the Pacific Northwest; needless to say, there is some food to be taken and certainly snacking could occur.  Yet sightings of feeding humpbacks in the tropics are rare if non-existent; likewise rarely is defecation seen in Hawaii other than when they first arrive and their exhalation is not as odiferous as it is in the northern latitudes where they are feeding on as much as 1200 pounds of krill every day.  Furthermore, whaling data shows there was little, if any, food in their stomachs and they were so light in body weight that whalers stopped taking humpbacks in the tropics.  Instead they would endure the rough and cold seas of Southeast Alaska and hunt them coming off their feeding grounds where the fat to body weight ratio was much higher and more oil could be rendered. 

So much of the lives of these creatures remains a mystery, but for whatever reason they continue each year, like clock work, to make their annual trek to Hawaii where we witness their magnificence.  Join our next adventure on Dan McSweeney’s Whale Watch on the beautiful Kona Coast of the Big Island of Hawaii.  Call 1-888-WHALES-6 for reservations.

Aloha,

Captain Dan