Last evening at dusk, we went sailing with some family members on Kawaihae Bay, on the Kohala Coast of Hawaii's Big Island. The winds were light, the ocean surface was calm, and the mood was peaceful.
We were escorted for awhile by several Humpback Whales. The whales seemed to be in a placid mood as well. We saw no breaches or other dramatic behaviors. Instead, the huge cetaceans glided along near the boat, occasionally diving below the surface for a time and then reappearing to blow and breathe. I snapped this photo of one whale's tail just as as it began a dive.
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Sounds like an awesome experience with the humpback whales! Great photo! Thank you for sharing! http://www.hawaiidiscount.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteBeautiful!
ReplyDeleteThat's great - are you able to recognize the same whales ever? They are migratory, right? So, would stand to reason they keep coming back to the same place. Likely hard to tell since you can't just swim up and paint some red nail polish on the tail... :)
ReplyDeleteOMG that's beautiful! Can't believe whales come that close to mainland!
ReplyDelete@ Anonymous - Somehow I overlooked your comment until just now. Sorry. But just in case you do check back -- as well as for other readers who also may wonder about the humpback whales -- yes, individuals can be identified. Each has a unique pattern of markings on the underside of its tail flukes. If you happen to be positioned behind the animal when it dives from the surface, you can see these markings. Researchers have been photographing whale tails for identification purposes for decades. Thanks to this work, we do know that, indeed, the same whales return to Hawaiian waters year after year, and that they spend their summers in Alaskan waters.
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