A L O H A !
It is the season
to see humpback whales
in our Hawaiian waters.
They migrate here from Alaska
between September and May
to calve, feed, and relax.
Some claim that they
like the local acoustics
for singing !
We expect to see them
breaching offshore,
so yesterday
was a little wild.
Chris Kojima was working
at Pier 30 in Honolulu Harbor
(Thursday morning)
aboard the Young Brothers tug
Manuokekai
when two humpback whales
suddenly surfaced right
alongside!
I got blasted a couple times
by the spray coming of their nostrils,"
he told HawaiiNewsNow
William Winn,
the captain of the fishing boat,
Ocean Pearl,
told KITV that the whales
followed his boat
into the harbor this morning
all the way to Pier 38.
"Yeah, for some reason they liked the boat.
They just hung with us for like, seven days.
They never left our side,"
said Winn.
"It was neat to have some company out there.
We've been out for almost 20 days,
so it was nice to have something to look at
other than my crew,"
said Winn with a laugh.
The mother & adorable calf
were seen in the harbor
in the company of two or four
adult humpbacks.
shortly after 7 a.m.
"- whales aren't typically in harbors.
The reason why they're there is unknown,"
said Eric Roberts,
U.S. Coast Guard Marine Mammal
Response Coordinator,
in typically colorless
science/military-speak.
State Department of Transportation’s
Harbors Division spokesman
Dan Meisenzahl
recalled seeing whales in the harbor
around 1996.
"Out of 21 years I've been here,
this is the first time I've seen whales
in this far,"
said Kaipo Pomaikai,
Sause Brothers (tug boats)
assistant port captain.
The Coast Guard
which received the report
around 7:45 a.m
dispatched a 45-foot response boat
to establish a 100-yard
safety zone around the animals
The rare visitors
completed their celebrity appearance
and left the harbor on their own by 1:45 p.m.
Presumably after saying "Aloha"
to their friend Captain Winn.
Further ashore, it was just another day
" Don't forget to show hospitality
to strangers,
for some who have done this
have entertained angels
without realizing it! "
Hebrews 13:2
New Living Translation (©2007)
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| " What's a whale? " |
Your visits here
mean a lot to me,
so I really try to share
images and ideas
that are worthy
of your time.
Like many of us,
I'm on a post-holiday
mental "blank - out"
So I'm especially appreciative
of these visiting cetations
for giving me a
whale of a story!
Please visit "Comments Cove"
Warmly, cloudia
