Melon Headed Whales (Peponocephala electra)

A very rare encounter with a huge 100+ pod of melon headed whales!

We got word over the marine radio as we left Molokini that a pod of false killer whales or short finned pilot whales had been spotted near our second snorkel site. We jetted over to find a huge group of what turned out to be melon headed whales (Peponocephala electra), lazily swimming near the surface in a pretty tight formation. They would roll at the surface showing off their curved dorsal fins and every once in a while give us a peak at the funny, blunt heads. It was my first time seeing these whales. They frequent the deeper waters farther off the coast of the Hawaiian Islands so we hardly ever see them in this close to shore. When we met up with the pod we were in about 200ft of water only a couple miles off south Kihei shoreline. We drifted slowly, taking in this rare experience, and the whales swam about 30 yards off of us as they headed back out to deeper water.


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