Whale & Wildlife Report | Dec 28-Jan 3, 2026
Highlights
Humpback Whales
Hydrophone Vocals
False Killer Whales
Short-Finned Pilot Whales
Hawaiian Spinner Dolphins
Bottlenose Dolphins
Hawaiian Monk Seals
Oceanic White Tip Sharks
Reef Manta Ray
Finning Spearfish
Whale & Wildlife Report | Dec 28-Jan 3, 2026
This week was fluke-tacular! We encountered a duo that our naturalists identified through Happywhale as BREE- SDP07_0803_1-0020 and SEAK-1685, a male and female pair. She was looking particularly large and may have a little one on the way! A playful sub-adult delivered stunning fluke displays, while a picturesque dive unfolded right in front of the historic Holua slide. One subadult’s flukes also had unique rake marks likely from a toothed-predator - a lucky survivor!
The thrills continued with offshore excitement. We saw tail slaps and cartwheels on the horizon that turned out to be a yearling and mom pair. We also had a dramatic surfacing of three whales, sparking a mini competition pod with ventral pleat flaring and intense action. More surface behavior this week included tail slapping and a spectacular series of breaches. Pure awe!
Our humpback focus was briefly interrupted by a fantastic surprise, false killer whales! False killer whales can be seen around the Big Island year-round, but they are unfortunately an endangered species. Sightings of this species are few and far between, making our encounter all the more special. The pod was spread out and on the move, but we got great looks and even noticed a juvenile humpback in the mix of the chaos.
The pelagic magic continued with another whale species- short-finned pilot whales! The pod approached us, spyhopping and vocalizing. A couple oceanic white tip sharks even came over to investigate. It was such a cool encounter and we love introducing our guests to Kona’s year-round whales!
We had energetic dolphin sightings, but one encounter took the cake! We witnessed a multi-species interaction between bottlenose dolphins and two humpback whales. It was a wild sight with the dolphins very much in the humpbacks’ business, and the whales reacting by snapping their jaws, expanding their ventral pleats, and blowing lots of bubbles. After some time, a few dolphins also broke off to ride our bow!
This humpback season, our crew continues to work hard and find as much marine life as we can on every excursion. After years of experience, we still find that each and every tour is different, and the ocean will always be in control. We’re looking forward to more whale and dolphin encounters this winter, both humpbacks and the pelagic variety!
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