808-345-0268
800-677-9461
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Fair Wind II Photo Gallery

Photos from the Hula Kai Whale Watch - Tuesday
Photos taken by passengers, Dale and Alicia Scott
-Thanks!
02/06/07 (Tuesday)
Aloha and Welcome,
What an exciting trip we had today! The highlight was watching a Humpback Whale calf (Megaptera Novaeangliae) first do a 3/4 breach, followed by a full breach, and then breached 5 more times. There were 5 spy-hops, 3 'heat runs' and 4 tail-lobs. We also deployed the hydrophone and were treated to a symphony of songs by male whales. Remember that all whales vocalize, but it's only the males that sing. That, by the way, was the question of the day; do all whales sing? There were certain dynamics of the singing that were very curious. Last year we heard a certain whale end his songs with a phrasing that we had not heard before. He sounds like the character from Star Wars, the wookie “Chubaka”. Well, this year “Chuie” is back and he's not the only one finishing his songs in this manner. There is another whale singing in a higher key, imitating him. So it will be interesting to see if this catches on and other whales begin doing it as well. This is the type of cutting edge whale research that you can experience first hand only on the Hula Kai. Sure there are other whale watch operations in West Hawai'i, but we're the only ones that take you up on the “Lek” where the whales are, and we know what “Chuie” sounds like so we can identify his phrasing for you. Well that's all for now, be sure to check us out tomorrow for more whale adventures aboard the Hula Kai. Aloha for now - Jonathan | email Jonathan |
808-345-0268
800-677-9461
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Hula Kai Photo Gallery