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Heard some loud noises coming from the cliffs or the ocean a few minutes ago and at first thought it might be some people letting off fireworks, but after a couple of minutes realised it was more likely humpbacks fin slapping. Anyone closer to the ocean who can confirm this? Never heard it quite as intense as this before. I even got a call from a neighbour asking if I knew what was going on!
There's no moon so didn't bother going to the cliffs to check and anyway the slapping appears to have stopped for now, but just curious if anyone can confirm it was coming from the ocean. The neighbour who called told me that she did see plenty of whales from the Kaloli Point cliffs earlier today.
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I've heard the whales often at night, and although the sounds they make can be loud I have never been able to spot them from the cliffs with a flashlight. Sound can carry a long distance at night. The whales will slap, as well as exhale with a whooshing sound, inhale, and call or sing on the surface as they swim by.
"I'm at that stage in life where I stay out of discussions. Even if you say 1+1=5, you're right - have fun." - Keanu Reeves
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Yep, took me a while after moving here to figure out those weird sounds coming from the ocean were whales exhaling and vocalising other ways. Tonight it was just slapping though (or at least I assume it was). No other sounds that I could hear to identify them as whales this evening which was a little odd as well as the frequency of the slaps. Haven't heard anything quite like that before. The wind is from the north tonight which means the sounds from the cliffs are heading my way and the coquis are quiet, so both probably added to the intensity.
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Hello!
When I was in Waa Waa I could hear some pretty intense Whale sounds when the wind was blowing right. I have seen the Humpbacks do what I believe may be responsible for the louder whale "smacking" sounds you may be hearing. When the Humpbacks slap their flukes or tails, it is called "flipper-slapping," or "lobtailing," I have heard it many times. The louder sounds may be from Breaching when they heave their entire bodies out of the water, then yaw hard to one side, purposely slamming their sides onto the surface. Competitive males will do this repeatedly, sometimes on top of one another.
Lucky you! Last year I was lucky enough to awake in Waa Waa, to the cries of an "Io" and the lobtailing of some humpbacks!
AKpilot
We're all here, because we're not all there!
We're all here, because we're not all there!
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Thanks, AKpilot. I was reading about humpback behaviour a few years back and remember the "lobtailing" thing, but it's my impression they use that when feeding (to scare the fish into a particular area) which of course they don't do here - feed that is. I suspect the noise we could hear wasn't breaching (which they do do here) because it just didn't sound right, it was more of a sharp slapping noise, but lots of it and much more than I've heard before.
I wonder if the thunder and lightning had anything to do with their behaviour?
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I bet it did! There is a theory amongst Marine Biologists that whales breach during high seas to breathe better. Instead of inhaling lungs full of sea spray, they can get just above it, and thus, get a better gulp of air.
We're all here, because we're not all there!
We're all here, because we're not all there!
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Biologists are not really sure why whales make these slapping sounds. Feeding, warning, anger, communication...or just for the heck of it. At least that is what I have been tolf by some Marine Biologist pals.
AKpilot
We're all here, because we're not all there!
We're all here, because we're not all there!
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Two reasons I went into the physical sciences rather than biology: 1) I couldn't spell or remember any of the terms biologists use for parts of the anatomy, and 2) I couldn't see any way we'd ever understand something that involved the brains of creatures we could never really understand. OK, that's three!
About three years ago Pam and I went on a whale watch cruise from Maui. It was one of those run by a research group (just too lazy to look it up now) and the person giving the commentary was a whale researcher. This was during whale season here. Towards the end she got a small kid on the cruise to drop a microphone into the water and the sounds were relayed to us all. It was one of those moments in life for me when I also acted like a little kid; wide-eyed and absolutely captured in the moment. The sounds we heard were incredible, whales singing all over the place and you wouldn't have had a clue that was going on unless you were underwater yourself. Even then the microphone was more sensitive than our ears, it was a cacophony of sounds from the humpbacks. All of that was going on beneath us while most people only ever see or hear the whales when they're at the surface.
What they were talking to each other about will likely always remain a mystery, at least as far as I'm concerned, but just to eavesdrop for a few minutes was very special.
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I know what you mean, TomK. I have been enamored since Crosby/Nash's To the Last Whale. Star Trek IV was pretty cool too. I sometimes listen at
http://www.jupiterfoundation.org
Great story Tom, Thank you for sharing. It reminded me of a close in counter my wife and I had in Maui as well.
My friend owned a small boat on Maui and had invited my wife and I out. I brought free dive gear thinking maybe I would get a chance, Well that materialized as soon as we saw 3 or 4 whales less than 100 yards out. My friend killed the motor so we did not scare or harm them, the sounds were incredible. About enough time had gone by for me to chug a beer and put my fins on and in I went. I swam maybe 60 yards from the boat and then remained still, just looking through the deep crystal clear diamond shining water. That's about the time I noticed a cluster of clams or barnacles you may see on coral heads below me, Then the greyish matter seemed to get closer than 10 feet away when I realized this was a whales tail I was seeing just below me. The movement of the whale could be felt like a current against me. That's when I could then make out 3 of these incredibly large mammals below me and through my snorkel I did my best imulations of what I heard. The interaction was so intense for well over a minute as I swam just over there back ends for some distance almost feeling a part. My friend and wife gave me some good grief when I swam back but it was worth the jump. P.S. I have also heard the slapping of the tails at night at the bottom of Makuu HPP. Thanks again in reminding me how small I really am. happy new year.
