Crew and guests on Hawaiian Adventures, a whale watching, snorkel and manta dive operator, were treated to a rare sight on Wednesday.
Their year-round dolphin and whale watch trips this week have encountered pilot whales, melon-headed whales, and beaked whales, but nothing prepared them for the most exciting encounter of them all… a humpback whale.
While cruising the coastline near Kealakekua Bay, Captain Andrew Aggergaard spotted a blow and smooth dark back breaking the surface. As the gentle giant showed its flukes, he was shocked to discover that it was a humpback whale. While there are many species of whales and dolphins that might be found around Kona throughout the year, humpbacks are not usually one of them. This species migrates to Hawaiian waters during winter months to breed and give birth, typically from mid-December through March.
According to the Hawaii Wildlife Fund, North Pacific Humpback Whales leave the icy waters around Alaska during the fall, swimming practically non-stop for nearly 6 to 8 weeks before reaching their Hawaiian winter home, where they mate, give birth, and nurture their calves. Their annual migration of about 6,000 miles is one of the longest of any mammal.
Like most northern hemisphere baleen whales, humpbacks feed during the summer in sub-arctic regions and migrate to sub-tropical waters in winter to breed. Today, there may be as many as 26,000 humpbacks found in the North Pacific.
“Because of the unique bathymetry of the Kona coast, you truly never know what might swim through,” remarked Hawaiian Adventures Naturalist Amy Aggergaard. “However, a humpback whale in the summertime is definitely high up on the list of surprising encounters.”
Hawaiian Adventures’ Naturalists documented the encounter with photos and videos, while excited guests rushed to the sides of their new vessel Artemis to catch a glimpse of this giant surprise.
“We watched for about an hour as the humpback maintained consistent behavior, 15 minute downtimes followed by 1-3 breaths at the surface,” said Aggergaard.
“We hope that the photos Captain Andrew captured of this humpback’s tail can help shed light on its story, as photo-identification is a means of tracking whales over their lifetime,” said Hawaiian Adventures Naturalist Sam Murphy.
While an initial search yielded no known matches to this individual, leaving its journey up to this point a mystery, Hawaiian Adventures will be sharing photos with researchers at Happywhale to confirm whether or not this humpback is indeed new to science.
“The Kona Coast continues to amaze us every day, especially with year-round whales and dolphins, but this humpback was absolutely a unique encounter,” said Aggergaard.