This entry was posted on Friday, January 2nd, 2009 at 8:29 pm and is filed under About, Adventure Cruises, History, Information, Migration, Sites, Snorkeling, Snuba, Whales. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Photo Courtesy Katie Velasquez
What the heck is that? This humpback whale has a most unusual dorsal fin. Today, while in neutral, we were waiting on a trio of large animals who were taking about 12 minute down-times, this animal and a friend came up right near us several times. When they made a pass by at less than 30 yards we were able to take this picture. It appears this poor guy had a run in with a fishing line, cable, or possibly a line from a crab pot up north.
Humpback whales around the world deal with many human created consequences; toxins in the ocean, vessel noise, Naval sonar (which ruptures their ear drums and blood vessels causing them to bleed to death), vessel strikes, over-fished feeding grounds, and marine debris. It is truly a surprising piece of information that the North Pacific population is growing 7% annually, according to researchers. We can only hope this continues.
According to experts Hawaii receives about 12 – 13,000 humpback whales every year for breeding, mating, and calving. They tell us that the females return to the place of their birth to give birth. That makes sense. Males may also return to their birth island, or area, but then will set out to find a receptive female, wherever in Hawaii that may be. They are quite promiscuous, say the researchers.
Coming to Hawaii at this time is an excellent decision. Every day there are more and more animals seen. Whale watching is a must for all who want to observe, take pictures, and learn more about these ‘gentle giants’ of the North Pacific. Our beautiful humpback whales.
