Yesterday evening we went down to the picnic area to the south of the Place of Refuge and there were whales right off the shore, maybe 30-40 yards off shore. I didn't have my camera or I could've had some nice tail and back shots.
Today Pat and I did a shore dive up north of Kua Bay with some friends and there were whales everywhere on the horizon.
Here's a simple little reef scene I took with my Olympus sp350 in movie mode. I took it in low resolution and Youtube compresses it even more so it's not much to look at... but turn your volume up a bit and use your imagination and you can hear the whales in the background off in the distance (no kidding). You'll hear lots of static popping, which is actually snapping shrimp in the coral heads, me breathing a lot, and something in the background that sounds like a cross between cows and cellos - that'd be the whales. Hopefully later in the winter I'll be diving where they are louder, we heard them all the dive today but it was fairly much in the background. When it's loud, it's quite impressive.
Later,
Steve
Amazing I had no idea you would be able to hear the whales so clearly. It has never happened for me whae I have been snorkeling in Hawaii. Wonder if you have to be deeper or further out to hear it. I have realy enjoyed my time on your blog.
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This is actually quite quiet. At times it can be fairly loud. You don't hear it in shallow reef areas as well as along drop offs. Usually late February and eary March are the best time to hear them in Kona proper. Up Kohala direction it might be more common to hear them as there seem to be more of them hanging out up there.
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