Humpback mothers and calves have been the treat of the week. February and March are peak breeding months and with a twelve month gestation, that means peak birthing months as well.

The youngsters have to do a fair bit of nursing before they are strong enough to make the long journey northward with their mothers. Some mothers and calves will remain in Hawaiian waters even in to early summer. Generally, the calves need to be with the mothers on the breeding grounds for approximately three months before they are ready to make the migration back to the cold waters of the Pacific Northwest.

Bottlenose dolphins have been interacting with humpbacks a lot this past week. There have literally been dozens of dolphins intermixed with their larger cousins. Bottlenose dolphins are like the one featured in the televison series “Flipper.” Today’s tour not only had bottlenose dolphins but also their smaller relatives, the spinner dolphins, frolicking with a humpback in the nearshore water. Spinner dolphins are found in large groups of 100 or more and today’s encounter was no exception. At the size of a small person, what they lack in size compared to the 800 pound bottlenose dolphin, they certainly make up for in number.

On another note, there are still some humpback songs to be heard underwater as well, which is always a real treat. The males are the ones that are responsible for the song. Once the humpbacks leave Hawaii, the underwater world becomes a quiet place compared to the symphony that is heard when humpback whales are in town.

We hope you can join us on one of our whale watching adventures before the end of the seasonal stay of the humpback whales especially while many mothers and calves are still skirting the coastline. For reservations, call 1-808-322-0028.

Aloha, Captain Dan

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 16th, 2010 at 10:36 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.