Whale & Wildlife Report | February 4-10, 2024
Highlights
Male humpback competition pods
Humpback mom, calf, and escort trios
Hawaiian spinner dolphins
Short-finned pilot whales
Surface feeding manta rays
Bottlenose dolphins
Hydrophone vocals
Whale & Wildlife Report | February 4-10, 2024
After a month of tough weather, we were thrilled to get back in the water for a few night manta snorkel tours this week! Despite some varied ocean conditions, the mantas showed up in full force! Guests and crew alike watched in awe as we experienced tons of barrel rolling and anywhere from 10-30 mantas on site. Our 6:30 PM departure allowed us to be one of the only (if not the only) lights in the water, making for lots of manta attraction to our light boards. With our focus often on the humpbacks during this season, it was great to take a break and visit Kona’s resident rays beneath the surface!
Mid-February is here and we are in the thick of the humpback season! The sheer amount of whales in the area continues to be impressive. We spent lots of time with mom, calf, and escort trios, and got some great looks at some very curious babies. A few of these interactions turned feisty, as male competitors showed up and proceeded to battle for attention! One of our tours found a wild competitor pod with around 20 whales within a mile radius, and we found ourselves surrounded by surface-active whales! This week’s afternoon tours enjoyed a few heat runs with groups of humpbacks traveling up and down the coastlines. On multiple tours, we were able to drop our hydrophone and were rewarded with humpback vocals and a few echolocation clicks from an unknown source. We witnessed a few full spy hops, breaches, and tail slaps from individuals, making for some added excitement to our viewing.
Humpback activity was abundant from the north to the south, but offshore is where we found our additional whale species of the week… a pod of pilot whales! For the majority of the year, pilot whales are a species that we spend a lot of time with on our trips. They can be found here year-round, and as a pelagic species, they prefer offshore areas. Offshore we also found a group of rough-toothed dolphins interacting with a humpback whale! Kona’s offshore zone still has our hearts, but we’re soaking up the humpback season while it lasts! Other species that we spent time with this week included mantas, turtles, bottlenose dolphins, Ghost the Hawaiian spinner dolphin, and a hammerhead shark!
There’s no telling what we’ll see on our wildlife tours when we leave the dock. Rain or shine, sunset or sunrise, there’s always an adventure to be had on the Kona Coast!
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