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Marine Naturalist - Jonathan Opay 2007 Whale Journal

By our on-board Marine Naturalist, Jonathan Opey

01/31/07 (Wednesday)
"Crikey"! To paraphrase a dear friend, that was some whale watch! I don't know if you've been following the weather lately, the Hawai'ian Islands have been enjoying some over due rain during the past three days. Conditions however were not favorable for Whale Watching due to high surf advisories – so we have not gone out for the past couple days. Finally we couldn't wait, and today was the day. We had barely gotten underway, when we saw our first whales. There were two individuals, swimming side by side with 10-15 minute down times. Then we encountered several more pods of whales for a total of 12 whales. About an hour into the trip we saw 2 whales tail-lobing, and between the two they did a total of 12 tail-lobs. And that was pretty much it as far as cetaceans go. Not a great day – but still a “good day”. Then someone asked: "why do whales Tail-Lob"? I am sure I have covered this before - but sometimes once isn't enough. So here is the answer: Sound travels at different speeds, depending on the medium that it's passing through. Generally the denser the medium the faster it travels. Whales will sometimes send an acoustic message to other whales, by lobing their tails against the surface of the water. Then again slapping their tails against the surface is a defensive posture against predators, such as sharks or Orca's. So those are the primary reasons why whales tail-lob. Well, that's all for now  - see you tomorrow! Aloha, Jonathan
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01/27/07 (Saturday)
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What a trip we had today! Oh my, you had to be there! Today was truly one of those trips where you actually saw a transformation in the passengers because of the whale contact. Let me explain if I can control my excitement - we saw 13 whales in total, 3 breaches, 4 “heat runs”, 3 tail-lobs, 5 spyhops, and several lunges. Then the dolphins showed up!  We first saw spotted dolphins (Stenella Attenuata) - one of whom was leaping at least 10 ft. out of the water trying desperately to dislodge a Remora fish that had attached itself to the ventral (bottom) side of the dolphin. We watched the vain attempt for a while then moved on up to the “Lek”. There were several breaches that wowed the group, then we saw a fairly active “heat run” - can you feel the excitement building yet? Well, just when we were about to deploy the hydrophone we saw 2 whales swimming fairly close to the boat, but then they swam off so we lowered the hydrophone and not only did we hear whales, but the clicks and whistles of the dolphins as well. After about 20 minutes of being serenaded by the two groups of cetaceans we needed to get going, because it was getting late...then it happened. A huge fully grown Humpback Whale (Megaptera Novaeangliae) spy-hopped right next to the boat! I mean so close you could see it's eyes looking at you...that close! Not just once, but for more than 25 minutes - then another whale showed up and we had two giants swimming around the Hula Kai as we were dead in the water. They were so close you could see many features on the surface of their skin. We could see the concentrations of barnacles, even the hair on each tubercle. Then I did something that has never happened before...by tapping on the side of the hull the whale turned around and swam back to the boat to check us out, not once but three times...WOW! It was like it recognized our hull or some feature of the hull and was coming back to say hello. The Whale then lifted its massive flukes into the air and held them aloft for all to see, and to get some really cool pictures. I've been doing this for more than 20 years and never before have I had a close encounter quite like this - today won't soon be forgotten if ever. I wish you could have been there to see it. Then I was asked if this was normal Behavior? No, not really - this was really special and way cool! And no, this does not happen everyday. Well that's all for today, see you next time...Aloha!- Jonathan | email Jonathan |

01/26/07 (Friday)
Friday's whale watch was perhaps the most unusual trip we have had all season. By that I mean that just about all the real exciting events happened on the way home. Don't get me wrong - we had an awesome adventure that included thunderous breaches, slashing sideways tail-lobs, repeated lunges and so on. None of this could compare to the sheer number of sightings encountered after we thought the trip was over …were we ever wrong! How about 10 breaches in a row, 6 spyhops, 8 lunges, and 4 heat runs - all of this occurring when we had turned around and were heading for home. In total we saw an excess of 15 whales today - 4 of them swam right under our boat, and just when we thought...ok, we're done let's go home the Nai'a showed up and put on an aerial display that rivaled any that I have ever seen. (Oh, by the way for those of you that don't speak Hawaiian, Nai'a is the Hawai'ian word for dolphin). Today's question was, is it common to see Nai'a swimming with whales? Well first of all dolphins are whales - they are the toothed kind. There are over 80 different species of cetaceans in the world, there are at least 20 different species in Hawaiian waters alone. But, there are only 2 kinds of whales, they either have teeth and are classified as Odontocete, or they have baleen plates and are classified as Mysticete. Well that concludes another log entry, hope to see you real soon on one of our fabulous, whale watches aboard the Hula-Kai! ‘Till then, Aloha! - Jonathan | email Jonathan |

01/24/07 (Wednesday)
Aloha and welcome!
Wednesday turned out to be the kind of trip where we were kept guessing by the whales all afternoon. By that, I mean just when you least expected something - we were treated to a magnificant display of grace and agility. Once again, the weather was superb, and the two “heat runs” that we saw were an awesome reflection of controlled fury. There were a total of 10 whales that positioned themselves all around the boat. We also had several spyhops, although they were quite far from the boat. There were 3 lunges, 5 tail-lobs, 14 breaches...And then, of course the phenomenal double breach - that truly was spectacular! When we did drop the hydrophone, once again the males were singing away, loud, strong, and continuously. After what seemed like a few minutes, when in all actuality was over an hour and a half we headed for home - thrilled and excited all at the same time. As we cruised back to Keauhou, a whale surfaced at the 10:00 to port position. While observing what we thought was a solitary individual, we saw a calf surface and blow, then mom came up....and before we could react to that a huge male breached 20-ft from the boat - how cool was that! Needless to say, we were all on cloud nine after that. Then someone asked the question of the day, how do you know if the other whale is a male? Generally after the mother gives birth, she could mate again in the same year. So to help protect the calf from predators, she'll pick up an escort male. Now this works in the males favor because if she decides to mate then she has a willing and anxious partner that will travel with her back to Alaska. Well that does it for another trip, hope to see you out there with us real soon...Aloha for now...
- Jonathan | email Jonathan |

01/23/07 (Tuesday)
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Aloha, what a great day for whale watching! Picture perfect blue skies and ocean, but the real stars today were the humpback whales (megaptera novaeangliae). We had barely arrived on the “Lek” When before we knew it we were surrounded by whales. While people were reacting to a 7 individual “heat run” on the port side, cheers went up when out of nowhere 2 whales breached in tandem like twin (s.r.b.'s) separating from the main engine of the space shuttle craft into high earth orbit. As if that wasn't enough we had 4 spyhops, 13 more breaches, and most of them were fairly close to the boat. That alone would have been a full day's experience, but then we saw 4 lunges, and way too many tail-lobs to count. The total whale count was 15. Needless to say everyone was totally stoked on the way home. And then we saw what I thought was the highlight of the day, we encountered a mother and a brand new baby calf. How did we know that the calf was a newborn? Funny you should ask because that's the whale question of the day. The way you can tell if the calf is a newborn is by the color, and the way it swims next to it's mother. Usually a newborn is very light gray in color and swims so close to mom that it gets pulled along in it's mother's slipstream. This is called “eschalon” swimming. Sometimes it has difficulties in coordinating swimming and breathing, so mom nudges it along with her massive head. Which by the way is 1/3 of her body length, she does this so the calf doesn't have to work so hard to keep up with her. And that ends another whale watch log. I'm looking forward to seeing some of you on our next trip, which by the way is tomorrow. Don't delay seats are going fast for the hottest ticket on the best boat on the Kona Coast! See you real soon – Aloha! - Jonathan | email Jonathan |

P.S.(S.R.B.'s) stand for solid rocket boosters

01/22/07 (Monday)
Today's whale watch started off with a bang! We had barely gotten onto the “Lek” when out of nowhere 20-feet to starboard rocketing from the depths like a huge monolith, a humpback whale (megaptera novaeangliae) launched itself skyward. This caught everyone by surprise, but once again we were rocked by the wake created when this leviathan hit the surface! I wish I had words to better describe the experience, but like most things profound...you had to be there! The numbers were astounding today, 17Breaches, 3 Spyhops, 12 Tail-Lobs, 5 Heat-Runs, and 2 whales that surfaced so close to the boat, you could have stepped off onto their backs!!! As I'm writing this I'm asking myself, "did this really happen"? The answer is most definitely yes! Today was one of those days that can only be described as ineffable. Today's whale question is for every 1 breath that a whale takes, how many would we have to take to match it? The answer is 3000 breaths. That's all for now, be sure to log on to read about our adventures Aboard the Hula Kai tomorrow, Until then Aloha! - Jonathan | email Jonathan |

01/20/07 (Saturday)
What a grand show the whales put on for us today! there many more than we could count, and there were “heat runs” all over the “Lek”. Just to back up a bit, a “heat run” is when there are several male whales in hot pursuit of a female hoping to get close enough to mate with her. This time of year is very exciting, and the “Lek” is any location where you have a high concentration of whales. Our boat, the Hula Kai whose name in Hawaiian means water dancer is a 55-ft catamaran that rides like a jet plane across the surface of the water. We're generally the only boat up on the Lek so we have an exclusive trip each time we go out. Our boat is also outfitted with a hydrophone for listening to the males singing. And today there was a symphony being sang for us and we got to hear it firsthand. Our question of the day, do whales sleep? The answer is yes, but not like you and I do. They can't fall fast asleep because part of their brain always has to be awake to remind them to breathe. To do this they alternate hemispheres, so one side will shut down and go to sleep while the other side stays awake. So in this way while living in the ocean whales are able to sleep safely, and still be on the lookout for predators. I hope at some point you'll be able to join us for an afternoon and see all this for yourself. Until then, Aloha...
- Jonathan | email Jonathan |

01/19/07 (Friday)
Aloha, What an awesome whale Watch! We went as far as Kona Village Resort before we saw our first “heat run”. However we saw our first whale, that surfaced right next to the boat just passed Keahole Point. We had at least 5 different “heat runs” today and each one was unique. They had the same goal.....mating, but at one there was massive tail-lobbing. Some had thunderous breaches...so close that the after shock rocked the boat! There were many people who had never seen whales on board today - and every one of them was in shock and awe! What power, such grace. Suffice to say we were all humbled on this day. Genus and species (Megaptera Novaeangliae) or “great wings of New England”, affectionately known as humpback whales, really put on a show for us today! Just when we thought it couldn't get any better, it got better! There must have been at least 25 whales in total today, I can't wait until  tomorrow when we get to do it all over again....come join us for an exciting afternoon of whale-watching. We'll be looking for you - till then ...Alohaaaaaaaaa - Jonathan | email Jonathan |

01/17/07 (Wednesday)
Wow! What a spectacular day – an absolutely incredible show! The difference from yesterday to today was the amount of surface displays....”Heat Rushes”, we saw several of them. Lots more breaches today and some were fairly close, but that's not even the best part. That would be when we saw what was at first thought to be False Killer Whales (Pseudorca-Crassidens), however it turned out to be Pygmy Killer Whales (Feresa Attenuata) that was way cool and rare! Then when we arrived back near Kailua and received a call from Captain Beans that there was a mom and calf out in front of Casa De Emdeco Condos - well we encountered them in front of the Royal Seacliff Resort and sure enough the calf was tail-lobbing and jumped once. But then something happened that I've never had happen before in 20 years of whale watching - we heard the whales echoing through the hull of the Hula Kai. Seriously, you could put your ear right on the railing and feel the vibration of their vocalizations. Captain Mitch, First-Mate Brion and myself all heard them from up in the wheel-house which was truly amazing! You should have seen the people’s faces while this took place - they were absolutely transformed! Aloha, what an awesome day!" - Jonathan
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01/16/07 (Tuesday)
"We had another exceptional day. A lot of Whales all around the boat with breaching on the horizen. Dropped the hydrophone in the water and there were sounds, but they were very far away and faint. We went as far as Kona Village where we usually go which seems like the place to be right now. There were also several heat runs nothing as dramatic as yesterday, but everyone enjoyed themselves." - Jonathan

01/15/07 (Monday) | view photos from this day |
"Humpback Whale season seems to be in full swing along the Kona Coast. Today, we saw atleast 60 or 70 whales during our Afternoon Whale Watch Cruise. There were some breaching - but they were off in the distance. However, we encountered an exciting "Heat Run" where 4 or 5 large males were jockying for the right to mate with the female. This fury lasted for hours nearby our vessel as we had turned the engines off and were watching in awe. Additioinally, we encountered hundreds of dolphins which put on a nice show for us (jumping and playing nearby the boat) and we saw a Mantaray. On the way back to Keauhou Bay, we viewed a couple more whales nearby on the surface as everyone onboard sat back and enjoyed a brilliant Kona Sunset. " - Jonathan
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01/13/07 (Saturday)
"Aloha, well today was a good trip not a great trip,but any day that you see whales is a good day. We saw perhaps as many as 12 whales but they were always at a distance. We've been spoiled in that we've had incredible shows up close to the boat. After coming back to Kailua from up north, we did encounter a mother and calf, and the calf breached fairly close to the boat. We also saw 3 bottlenose dolphins as well, and 1 mantaray as we left keauhou bay. " - Jonathan | email Jonathan |

| View February's Whale Watch Summary |
| View March's Whale Watch Summary |

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