Whale & Wildlife Report | February 5-11, 2023
Football retrieved from the ocean during our tour!
Highlights
Humpback whales
Happywhale humpback ID matches!
False killer whales
Surface feeding reef manta rays
Football rescue
Whale & Wildlife Report | February 5-11, 2023
Happy Saturday and happy Super Bowl weekend! With the big game approaching, we had to share our recent ocean rescue… a football! Wilson was spotted floating offshore when we scooped him up during one of our whale-watching trips. We’ve picked up ghost nets and trash before, but this is our first football. While we love the sport, this is a timely reminder to protect the ocean we also love.
After encountering a group of false killer whales last week, we’re excited to report that our luck continued! We saw false killer whales on multiple trips this week with our encounter on Feb 5th taking the cake! A private charter aboard Callisto was cruising by Makalawena Beach when they spotted a pod of false killer whales interacting with a humpback whale! Captain Shane recorded a video of the exciting activity where both species are displaying social behaviors. Watch below to see the humpback slap its pec fin while a False killer whale shows its flukes!
The ocean was also in our favor this week with multiple surface manta sightings! We often run the current lines during our tours in search of sharks, mantas, and other marine life. The current lines are a hotspot for life as they move organisms and nutrients through the water! Manta rays typically feed near the surface with their mouths wide open to capture plankton and krill. We saw surface mantas up north with a group of 6-8 near Touch of Grey dive site! While we enjoy experiencing these magnificent mantas during our night manta snorkel trips, it’s always a treat to spot them during the day!
If you’ve been out with us before, you’ve probably seen our onboard naturalists taking photos! While these photos encapsulate our adventures, they serve another purpose. We submit our fluke photos for research contribution and often utilize Happywhale to ID the whales we encounter! This week, we were able to ID one of the whales as BCX0369 using Happywhale’s extensive photo database. Happywhale maintains a historical record of sightings for each whale, so we were also able to see that he was first spotted in Hawaii back in 2004! It’s always exciting when we get an ID match, and we’ll continue to submit photos for further documentation of our encounters. With thousands of whales cruising Kona’s coastline this season, every whale watch tour is a research contribution opportunity!
False killer whales socializing with a humpback whale! Footage by Captain Shane Aggergaard
Humpback whale on Kona coast (ID BCX0369)
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