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Whale sighting

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              the Hawaii humpback whales experience

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My friends, Norah, Petra, Annika, Chad, Darin and Khenn had all arrived by noon.  Everyone was aboard the big sailing sloop just relaxing in the warm sunshine, exchanging stories, having some cold drinks and watching some of our scuba diving and sailing videos on the television while the crew prepared for departure.  Petra, Chad, Darin and Khenn had been on a sailing yacht before and knew exactly what to expect out at sea.

A cool adventure on the ocean

With the engine was started, warmed up, and everything in order to depart the slip, the crew cast off the bow lines.  We motored through the harbor, then hoisted the sails in the turning basin before we headed out to sea.  Once we were outside the harbor the engine was shut down and we were completely under the power of the wind. Yahoo!  The winds that day were trade winds from the northeast, blowing 10 to 20 knots and gusty.  The seas were relatively calm.

A sudden rush of wind came upon us and the boat heeled heavy on it's right side.  It's not a bad or unusual event for any mono hull sailboat to heel like this but if you've never experienced it, it might be a little scary the first couple of times.  I remember watching Norah's face the first time the boat heeled.  She was real cute all decked out in her nylon jacket and eager to see some whales, but the first time the boat heeled hard, like it just did, I could see the look of fear in her eyes.  Fear of the unknown. 

"Sit on the high side!   Move to the high side!" I shouted.  That's the way you ride on a sloop or any sailboat that's heeled on its side.  Norah was frozen with fear.  It's not bad to stay on the low side of the boat, especially if you've been out at sea for a few days - It is the easiest place to sleep.  Other than that, it is always a lot more fun, and more comfortable, to be on the high side.

When you are sailing, the boat doesn't really rock back and forth, the way you would normally expect a boat to, unless you are sitting still in the water or at anchor.  Instead, the boat will lean or heel to one side or to the other depending on which direction the wind is coming from and how strong it is.  So the high side of the boat stays high and the low side stays low until you turn the boat to catch the wind from the other side and go in a new direction.  Once the boat turns it will lean the opposite way.  That's when you, and everyone else, move to the other side, the high side.

Perhaps Norah didn't understand the directions I shouted when I said to sit on the high side.  After a few more minutes of sailing, Norah regained her composure, saw how everyone else had moved, then she got her balance and moved to the high side too.  Now everything, and everyone, was good. 

As we sailed south we came past the point of Diamond Head.  The island was now no longer blocking any of the power of the wind.  The boat heeled hard.  I eased off the main sail and completely hauled in the head sail ( the one in front) to reduce the leaning of the boat.  We had half as much sail up now but the wind was strong enough to keep the boat moving at a brisk pace.

Everyone's eyes, including mine, were on the lookout.  Scanning the horizon for whale spouts.  When a humpback whale comes to the surface the first thing it does is exhale.  It exhales hard, blowing a flume of steam and mucus into the air about fifty feet high.  That's how we spot whales.  We can see the whale spouts as far away as three miles from the boat.

The VHF radio is on the scan mode.  If a big tour boat, we call them the cattle boats because they're packed like cattle with tourists, spots a whale they radio to the other cattle boats to let them know.  The boats were out there but we heard nothing.

We are about four miles directly south of Diamond Head right now and haven't seen a whale.  I was thinking it's time to change direction.  "Prepare to come about" I shout.  I say it loud enough for everyone to hear so no one is caught off guard when the boat turns and goes from leaning to the right to leaning to the left.  We turn gracefully, and everyone moves to the other side of the boat.  We are now headed towards Kahala.

The heading is Northeast.  We sail this direction for almost two miles, and then I see it.  "Whales straight ahead!" I yell.  I could see the grey fog of a whale spout about a mile in front of us.  Everyone is eagerly looking now, hoping to see a whale.  "Where?  Where?"  they ask.  "Straight ahead, keep looking" I say.  A couple of minutes later Khenn says "I see it, right over there" while pointing her finger to an area one hundred yards ahead and to the left of the boat. 

The excitement is pretty high right now.  We are approaching a pod of humpback whales.  As we get closer, we see more spouts.  Then we can see the humps of their backs. Wow!  That's why they're called humpback whales.  When they come to the surface and then dive again you see the hump of their back.  There are three pods of whales in the area and we are right in the middle of them.  Shouts of excitement and joy are heard around the boat when a whale breeches the surface nearby or a fluke comes high into the air.  Khenn brought her camera and was shooting plenty of pictures.  We watched the whales for thirty or forty minutes then turned to sail back toward Waikiki.  Now that was a blast!  This was an adventure that everyone, including Norah will fondly remember for a long, long time.