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

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010 at 12:53 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.