Kohala Blue LLC

It's #flukeupFriday! Did you know the fluke of an adult humpback whale is 18 feet wide and serrated on its trailing edge, with pointed tips? This photo shows off nature's design in splendid de-tail! (See what we did there?) Photo courtesy of passenger Michael Faughn, taken from sailboat Riva in the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary.

Because we could all use a laugh right about now https://youtu.be/gsMqakE7noE

Sweetest newborn humpback calf breached and breached during our sunset sail tonight just loving its new life. Welcome little one! It still had a lot of gray to it and was the smallest baby we’ve seen.

Throwback Thursday to our most epic whale watch ever!

These photos will definitely improve your whale-being! Young nature photographer Maddy Kern joined us for a whale watch last week and BAM! She really did an amazing job capturing the highlights, including that arc/bellyflop we love to see! And that breach! W O W Z A !!!! Mahalo Maddy for sharing your awesome shots with us! ... All photos courtesy of Maddy Kern.

Something so bluetiful about Mondays

Our sunset whale watch was magic this evening!! We encountered three individual humpback whales that eventually converged together into one peduncle-throwing, pectoral fin-slapping, head lunging ocean party of rowdy! Cue an amazing sunset, good wind, Venus all shiny and cozied up to a fingernail moon plus one fantastic family and . These are the times of your life!

Some highlights from yesterday’s whale watch charters include a breaching humpback calf, two adults breaching in the distance, mom and calf, flawless skies and ALL the volcanoes, and ending with a sighting of what are possibly pseudo orcas, or false killer whales or maybe they’re pygmies or all of the above co-mingling...enjoy! The video is all phone video, the best whale watches happen on board Riva! (Whale song track is from last March).

We were super stoked to encounter a pod of pseudorcas, or false killer whales, off the Kohala Coast on Saturday afternoon, just offshore from Puako/Mauna Kea area! They surfaced around Riva, but kept their distance while we sailed among them. Captain Steve observed one leaping from the water, presumably in pursuit of prey. Researchers from Cascadia Research Collective helped identify these rare toothed whales from photographs taken aboard Riva. (Huge mahalo to Robin and Sabre... from Cascadia for the information and for Becky Sawyer Ryan for the photos!) One of the animals had a bent dorsal fin, and was identified as HIPc127. It was last seen off Maui Nui in November 2019. It is part of social cluster 1. According to Cascadia, Pseudorca, or false killer whales, are a large toothed whale that lives in the tropical and sub-tropical open ocean. In Hawaiian waters there are three populations: an offshore (pelagic) population, a Northwestern Hawaiian Islands population, and a small population associated with the main Hawaiian Islands - this latter population are long-term residents, they are kama‘aina, Pseudorca. This population was listed as Endangered under the Endangered Species Act in November 2012. More is known about Pseudorca in Hawaiian waters than anywhere else in the world, and they are one of the highest priority species for Cascadia’s Hawai‘i research program. For more info on these amazing creatures, visit: http://www.cascadiaresearch.org//false-killer-whales-hawaii We feel so lucky to have spotted them! It is humpback whale season and we had a great humpback whale watch Saturday morning, but there's really something special about spotting a pod of cetaceans this rare in Hawaii! Photos courtesy of Becky Ryan. Used with permission.

Curious about what’s going on with the humpback whales this season? Here’s a report from Captain Steve from our Friday, January 17 whale watch: "We departed at 9 a.m. and 10 minutes outside of the harbor, we sighted a mother and calf with an escort. We spent about 30 minutes with them 200 yards or so away, always being sensitive to mother-calf relationships. We enjoyed their breathing sounds each time they surfaced, and a couple nice fluke-up dives from the escort. They bega...n to travel north, and we decided to check out some other pods to the south. We then encountered three large adults; two were exceptionally large. Their activity was slightly elevated with sharp blows and a fairly quick dive from one of them. The smaller humpback was very gray in color. With blows and tails in most directions around us, we dropped the hydrophone and picked up a singer in the vicinity, but its song was quickly muffled by screaming motors as a vessel went by in the distance. When the loud underwater noise dissipated, it was clear that the singer was fairly close by and we enjoyed whale song while sailing gently and quietly to the south with the pod, and ultimately identified the singer on a surfacing about a half mile away. Captain Steve knew something was about to happen, and told our passengers to keep their cameras ready. All of a sudden, all three animals breached the surface into the air with a roaring splash on exit and entry! Yes! That’s what we love to see! Meanwhile, the clouds were building with wind coming around Kohala mountain and heading our way so we reefed the sails down to a double-reefed main and shortened headsail. As the wind kicked in, and with a little exhilarating spray in our faces we sailed back into the harbor. Another amazing whale watch in the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary, with a wonderful family from Canada!" Photo courtesy of Ethan Tweedie Photography

The weekend report: lots of whale song, a baby humpback breaching, fluke up dives, resting spinner dolphins enjoyed from a respectable distance, a titillating sighting of a possible bronze whaler shark , a visiting gull that circled us 3 times, blue blue blue skies, snow on the maunas, and perfect light winds to fill Riva’s sails. Can we rewind/repeat please?