It was a “baby whale day” today. We came across numerous mothers as they fed breakfast to their newborn calves. This always proves to be a great show. The mothers will stay on the surface, roll on their sides and feed their young.

About two miles outside of Makaha Ridge the males continue their battle for the females. Lots of tail slapping and head butting going on. Only the strongest males will win the females affection!

Today was the day of days as the weather was beautiful and the seas were calm. It was also a day for whales and dolphins. The best of show went to a mom and baby. The baby was definitely into playing, he breached for us over and over again until a lady on the boat said “Oh my, I have counted over 20 breaches by that cute baby whale.” The dolphins were a little late showing up, but when they did, they did it in impressive numbers. The pod must have contained somewhere between 200 and 300 Spinner dolphins.

Another day of touring the Na Pali and whale watching, and of course, it is another beautiful day. We encounter a huge herd of spinner dolphins on our way out by Targets. They are having fun and riding the bow of the boat and spinning with delight.

Not to be disappointed today we find two whales that must have an affinity to humans, going under the boat and sitting there watching us (”people watching”).

We can hardly pull out of the harbor these days without seeing whales right away. The humpbacks are out and about and their numbers seem greater than years prior on Kauai. Their activity level has increased as we are seeing more and more males competing for the females. We saw several males kind of doing a domination thing with one other, swimming back and forth aggressively, and getting very close to each other.

We have also been seeing a lot more of our Spinner dolphin friends. The spinners can’t keep from having fun when we show up and many were jumping, spinning and riding the bow of our boat. We also saw a humpback triple-breach right off the bow of our raft.

Check out an article about Na Pali Riders’ whale watching tours in the Honolulu Advertiser on Sunday, February 8, 2009.

http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009902080333

Another beautiful day on the Na Pali was given to us. The humpbacks were being a little lazy today but were still allowing us to get up close and personnel. Some spinner dolphins were spotted and as usual they were following a group of whales, having a fun time together. The seas were up to about 15 feet today.

Another day to explore the Na Pali and the weather, wind and seas are again on our side. On the way up we spot spinner dolphins and they seem to be playful but distracted. They are distracted because they are having fun watching the whales and playing with them! They jump and do spins and travel side by side with the whales. We hung with them for quite awhile as the action didn’t seem to quit. We finally went off in search of more whales and sure enough we found them. A female flapping her pectoral fin signaling in several males. A huge whale breached off the back of the boat and everyone was in disbelief at how high it got out of the water.

Today started out to be another beautiful day, and so off we went to the Na Pali Coast. As we approached, the winds from the Northwest hit us head on and all indications were that the winds would continue to increase. It still wasn’t too rough so we made our way up a little further. The seas got to the point that it was time to go find some humpback whales. Just after turning around there she blows.
A breach right off the boat. The whales were very cooperative and gave us another great show.