Big Breach

Although we did not see much whale activity today, we saw a single adult breach not too far off the cliffs.  It was a treat!

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The Energizer Baby Humpback

Most of the morning and early afternoon we have been seeing a pod of three whales, mother, baby and escort.  They would surface, blow and maybe dive.  They stayed in the area.  Got close to cliffs many times.  Well, oh my goodness if that little baby didn't just start breaching as it moved away from the cliffs.  First one, then another and another and another and another...  I lost count,, but it must have been in excess of 25 times!!!

Scott got the camera, but it was hard to focus and the little guy was moving fast away from the cliffs.   This is the best shot we got.  the baby is on it's way up into the air!

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Humpback whales thriving in Hawaii

Todays local newspaper, the Hawaii Tribune Herald has an article stating that the humpback whale population in Hawaii is up 6% a year.  At that rate, they estimate that as many as 12,000 humpback whales come to Hawaii in the winter.  Maui is still the best island for whale watching.  However, they are around all of the major Hawaiian Islands.  We have seen lots of activity from our sea cliffs this year and the peak is yet to come!

Although I did not take this picture, we have recently seen two whales swimming in unison like these two!

February is Humpback Whale Awareness Month - do you think there is a greeting card for that???

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Kilauea Update

At the disappointment of many tourists, for about three 3+ weeks the lava has not been entering the ocean.  Apparently the lava is pooling on the hillside.  Check out eh NPS Kilauea update report.  Below is a recent map of the flows.

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What was That?

Last night we went outside to listen to the whales.  We heard the typical blow and grunts.  However, in addition we heard a new sound - it was a grrrrrrrr or brrrrrrrrrrr.  Kind of like a motor running.  We know it came from the whales because the sound moved in the ocean.  Hmmmmmmm?

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Early Morning Whale Sightings

We heard the sound and by the time we looked at the ocean, we only saw the surface water markings of breach, dang!   Then we spotted two small pods of 2-3 were only 50-100 yds off our cliff.  We saw backs and flukes as they seemed to glide away...  Hopefully they will back!

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Dry, Dry, Dry!

Who knew that Hawaii County has been under a drought declaration since 2007? Not me!  Apparently, the effects of El Nino are worsening.  We are expected to have dry weather through May.   Folks on catchment water systems are already buying water and some are waiting 2 weeks for delivery!!!

From the Hawaii County News Blog 

"On Friday, the Department of Water Supply issued a water conservation notice for the hard hit areas of Naalehu and Waiohinu to South Point, asking water consumers in affected areas to reduce their usage by 10 percent."

I am glad that we have a well, but I think that we too could see some issues if the water table drops too low and our pump starts to suck air!?!

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Whales, Whales, Whales...

Yesterday in the late afternoon, we saw our first whales of the day.  I spotted them from the guest shower.  We watched three pods until it was time to make dinner.  One was very close to the cliffs and we could hear the blows.  The other two pods were further out so binoculars were needed. Scott watched a baby breach and tails slap.  Then in the night, we heard the most amount of whale sounds we have heard this season.

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Night Time Whale Activity

Last night I heard whales breaching and tail slapping.

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Westward Bound Today

We took a road trip to the west side today, with the goal of hitting COSTCO!  Instead of going over the saddle road we went up the Hamakua Coast through cowboy country to Hawi and down the coast to COSTCO!

We hadn't been to Hawi in about 4 years and nothing has changed, except that we saw a wind farm for the first time!  We continued south and stopped at two State Parks to watch the whales.  Lots of whale activity, but they were quite a ways from the shoreline and binoculars were need if you wanted to see more than water splashing.  We saw two breaches in unison and one whale must have body rolled and slapped it's tale for 10 minutes.  We finally had to move on...

We stopped in at Hualalai Resort to get a look at the Champions Tournament.  We were not allowed into the resort because of the golf tournament, but we did ask for a beach pass.  So we walked to the beach and headed along the path to the 17th tee box.  No one stopped us.  We saw Loren Roberts and Tom Watson tee off.

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