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Whale Jerks
#1
This evening I was down along the coast watching what seemed to be two mother humpbacks with two really young calves. The babies were small, adorable and blew really small spouts. The four kept very close together and seemed to be resting near the surface close to shore - maybe they were nursing. I watched them for about 45 minutes peacefully bobbing and swirling in the same place.

Then...along came a boat which seemed to be full of tourists - maybe back from a lava tour? They spotted the whales and then veered and headed right for them without slowing down at all. I stood up and started yelling at them. The man and woman barbecuing just down the coast started yelling at them. The group of people in front of Kalani all started yelling at them. But they just kept on coming.

They circled around, and the previously peaceful whales began to move quickly away, but the jerk captain circled around and cut them off so they couldn't. I swear the guy came within 20 feet of these whales and he was not going slow! I was so freaked out for the whales that I was shaking. He made several circles around the agitated whales as all the people on the coast yelled and waved him off. He just didn't care!

Boat was a white double hull 28-30 foot with dark lower half, with a blue half canopy and large orange-red letters on the side, headed back to Pohoiki? (I couldn't make out the name). Haven't seen it before here.

I found out later that the many people in Seaview park also yelled at the guy and some people apparently got some pretty good photos of the boat right on top of the whales, which they will be sending to DLNR.

If you know this guy - tell him he sucks. If you see this kinda thing happening, try and get a picture and then be sure to call DLNR aquatics enforcement - 643-3567 as some people did this evening.

Mostly I say live and let live, but this was just too much. We gotta look out for our friends.
Uluhe Design
Native Landscape Design
uluhedesign@yahoo.com
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#2
n/m[Smile][Smile][Smile][Smile]
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#3
That's awful, Mitzi.

Does this look like the boat? I thought it might match your description.
http://www.tombarefoot.com/art/vendor_pa..._boat4.jpg
http://lavaboat.com/images/new-home-page.jpg
http://lavaboat.com/
They do operate out of Pohoiki.

In one of their youtube videos, a whale breaches at the 1:40 mark
http://www.youtube.com/LavaBoat#p/u/1/tTmT0NYnplo

Ed to add there are dolphins cruising alongside at first and then a whale ahead. Obviously this video was taken some other time, just pointing out that they use the whale sighting in the promo. That whale is much farther away than 20 feet.
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#4
Nope. Sorry Obie - Many other folks also thought for pretty sure that they were whales - and school bus sized dolphins are new to me.
But thanks for your delightful sentiments all the same...

Hmmm.. Thanks Kathy, Looks similar - but I can't say for sure and wouldn't want to discredit an honest boat captain. I didn't have my glasses so I guess I will have to leave it to the people who got the zoomed in shots to make a complaint.
Uluhe Design
Native Landscape Design
uluhedesign@yahoo.com
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#5
It's really sweet of you to not take the bait Mitzi.

Even if they were 70' Giant Spinner Dolphins the Captain was acting like a jerk. Here are some guidelines offered by the Hawaii Reef Project concerning dolphin interaction:

By observing animals from shore you will ensure that you have absolutely no impact.

Never touch or feed any marine mammal.

Never approach an animal or school head-on.

Never follow animal(s) from behind, they may react as if being chased.

Never approach closer than 100 yards from a boat, kayak, surfboard, or while swimming.
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#6
Mitzi

Since you didn't have your glasses ,are you sure this isn't the boat ?

http://titanic-model.com/photoarchive/ti...ic-01.html
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#7
Thanks Mitzi. Good to leave it in doubt as you didn't have your specs. I looked at several lava boat images on line, and I ruled out Lava Ocean, Lava Roy, Kalapana Lava Boat because they didn't fit the dark bottom and blue half shade or have the big orange lettering on the side. This was the only one that had all three. Never heard of the outfit, and it may not be them you saw.

Can you let us know when you find out?
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#8

A lot of digital video cameras have really good zoom - stabilization (all kinds) helps a lot when you're trying to get stuff like this captured, and video is way better than stills for catching the transient events like a whale breach or boat doing something exceptionally boneheaded.

I'm a little torn, since I used to "ride" sea turtles when I was 12 years old, with nothing but a snorkel in a 30' deep canal. Trust me, I had much more to lose than the sea turtle in those encounters... 10 years later, I've got dive boat captains telling me that approaching a sea turtle could give it a heart attack, oh, and harassing the puffer fish is also something they get really pissy about (I never made one inflate with air, and the ones we got up to basketball size underwater always recovered within seconds...) Yes, we should respect our marine friends, and running a whale-calf pair down with any kind of motorized boat is over the line as far as I'm concerned, but on the other hand, if "normal" people aren't permitted to interact with sea creatures unless it's on a dinner plate, I think that's even worse.
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#9
add to post title obie jerk
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#10
I won't get involved in or take sides in this spat but if you didn't think obie's response post of
quote:
Mitzi

Since you didn't have your glasses ,are you sure this isn't the boat ?

http://titanic-model.com/photoarchive/ti...ic-01.html
wasn't funny then something is wrong with you.

Pua`a
S. FL
Big Islander to be.
Pua`a
S. FL
Big Islander to be.
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