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Virtual
Humpback Whale Watch Adventure in Hawaii |
Enjoy a mental Vacation to Hawaii anytime through
beautiful photographs taken by Mike & Kim Crinella, owners of this web site and the
company A Friend in the Islands. All photos are copyrighted by
Mike & Kim Crinella for use on our web sites alohafriendsphotos.com, alohafriends.com,
alohafriendshawaii.com, and alohafriendsluau.com and may not be copied or used without our
written permission. We no longer offer use of any of our photographs
for any purpose. We now offer in our NEW Island Print Shop dozens of clothing options, framed enlargements, tile coasters, mousepads,
and other fun items featuring our custom images and many of our photographs featured in
this Hawaii Photo Gallery reflecting Hawaii's beauty and lifestyles.
Please note we are not zoologists or botanists but we attempt to
provide a correct identification for all photos featured. If you find we have
misidentified any photo featured or know it by a different name please email us at islandfriends@aol.com and provide the name
of the photo as we have listed and your identification.
 Humpback
whales migrate from the Aleutian Islands of Alaska to the Farallon Islands off central
California to the warm waters of the Hawaiian Islands to give birth and mate each November
through May. Approximately 3,000 whales journey more than 3,500 miles in 39 days or less
to the sheltered waters of Hawaii. Their arrivals and departures are staggered over 7
months with the most frequent sightings January-April. Whales can be seen from all islands
with the most sightings off Maui, then Molokai, Lanai, and Oahu. Whales can be seen from
shore at roadside lookouts, and by taking a whale watching boat cruise. Humpback whales
are intelligent and active animals that can be observed in many interesting behaviors:
| Spout/Blow: A Humpback whale does not actually
squirt up water into the air. Whales surface to breathe air through a blowhole on top of
their heads. They exhale at up to 300 mph and any water remaining on the skin flap over
the blowhole is vaporized into the air. |
| Peduncle Arch/Round Out: The back arches out when
the whale begins a diving descent. |
| Fluke up/Fluke down dive: When a whale dives deep
they will arch their back then lift their fluke (tail) out of the water revealing the
markings on their fluke's top or bottom. |
| Tail Slap: A whale will slap their fluke (tail)
against the waters surface. |
| Peduncle Slap: In this aggressive move the entire
rear portion of the whale is thrown up and out of the water and brought down sideways on
top of the water or another whale. |
| Pec Slap: A whale will roll on its side and slap
the waters surface with its pectoral fins. They also lay on their back and slap both
pectoral fins on the water at the same time. |
| Spy Hop: Humpback whales have a special lens on
their eye that allows them to see well through air and sea. A whale will raise its head
out of the water and turn to get a look around at its surroundings. |
| Head Slap: A whale will raise its head up to 20
feet about the surface then slaps its head against the surface, sometime with its mouth
partially opened. |
| Breach: A whale will propel itself out of the ocean
typically clearing 3/4 of its body, then turns over on its side and splashes down on top
of the ocean's surface creating a huge splash. |
Whales seen from shore on Oahu...
See the cloud of water that was vaporized as the whale exhaled and part of the whales back
and head just above the surface.
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See the two whales just below the surface. The white of the pectoral fins of the whale on
the right are clearly visible through the water.
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The backs of two whales
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Back of one whale
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Belly of a whale just below the surface
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Whale tail
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| You get a good look at a whales tail when it is
diving down deep. Typically once you see its tail the whale won't surface again for 3-5
minute and can stay down as long as 45 minutes |
Whales can be seen in groups called "pods" of two to twenty whales. A mother and
her calf will stay together but other whales will join and leave the pod as they travel.
Above you can see two whale tails!
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Whales tails have distinct markings like fingerprints that help to identify specific
individuals. This whale has two big white patches on either side of it's tail underside.
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Whales seen from shore on Maui...
A puff of water vapor can be seen in the middle of the photo indicating a whale is
surfacing
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A whale peeks its head just above water and exhales
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A baby whale breaches off in the distance
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A huge splash can be seen when a breaching whale impacts, even when observing from shore!
|
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A boat full of whale watchers were
entertained by a mother and her calf swimming near the boat. The mother whale breached,
then the baby whale breached several times, right in front of the boat!!! We are told by
scientists studying Humpback whales that you will typically see a "teaching"
mother breach first then the calf will practice and breach several times in a row.
Breaching is a way whales can get rid of barnacles that grow on their bodies and is how
they can signal their location to other whales. |
Whales
seen while on a boat cruise near Lahaina, Maui...
A whale's dorsal fin surfaces as its swimming with the tail coming out only if its going
to dive down.
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Whales do a head slap by lunging head-first out of the water and pounds it's head on the
water's surface.
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It is harder than it looks to catch a whale breaching. Many times you only catch the large
splash after.
|
For the best results in
taking photos of active whales on your Hawaii whale watching adventure it is recommended
you use a 35mm single lens reflex (SLR) with an 80-200 mm zoom.
Set your shutter speed for 1/500th of a second or faster to both freeze
the movement of the whale, and minimize motion effects of the boat, ocean, or your body.
Be sure the horizon is level when getting ready to take the photo. |
This whale calf was very active and practice breaching right in front of our boat.
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Even baby whales have huge splashes when they breach. Newborn calves weigh an average of
1.5 tons at birth and gain over 100 pounds a day!
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There were several pods of whales in the area our boat stopped in. There were over a dozen
whales in the area with 2 to 4 whales per pod.
|
Humpback whales frequently roll sideways at the surface and slap their pectoral fin
against the water.
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See the backs of the two adults as the calf breaches.
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See the backs of two adult whales
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A great close up of a whale as it is about to dive down. The tail is just coming out of
the water and you can still see the water vapor from when it exhaled.
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Tail of a whale
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This calf was slapping its tail on the surface as it swam along. Scientists on the boat
determined it to be one of the first born in Hawaii this season due to its advanced tail
control.
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Humpback whales are endangered with only approximately 7,000 remaining in the North
Pacific. Federal & State laws prohibit boats from approaching closer than 100 yards
and aircraft may not enter a 1000 foot over flight airspace above whale pods.
|
Adult Humpback
whales do not eat while they are in Hawaiian Islands to give birth and mate. The whale
calves nurse on their mothers' thick milk which has more than a 40% fat content which
allows the calf to put on more than 100 pounds day. The calf will need lots of blubber
when it leaves the warm waters of Hawaii. Newborn whales weigh approximately 1.5 tons and
measure 10-16 feet in length. Adult whales can reach up to 45 feet long and weighing up to
one ton for each foot long! Humpback whales are (toothless) baleen whales. Adults have
rigid strips of baleen (similar to human fingernails) on their upper jaws. They engulf
large amounts water then strains out the water through the baleen and catches food like
krill, capelin, herring, mackerel, and sand lance in the baleen. Encountering a whale in
Hawaii is quite a memorable experience. If you plan on visiting the Hawaiian Islands to
enjoy whales visit our Island Specific Activity Suggestions for more details on how to
enjoy whale watching on a specific island.
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popular luau recipes to easily create a Hawaiian Luau anywhere! |
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