Short-finned Pilot Whales
Pilot Whales in Hawaii have long been seen by mariners sailing along the off shore island shelf as it quickly descends thousands of feet into the deep Pacific Ocean plain. Here in Maui it is very hard to find them because of the shallow water shelf that extends out past several of our neighboring islands. Humpback whales, bottlenose, and spinner dolphins love these shallow Maui waters but it tends to keep the deep offshore species farther out. Many people in Hawaii don't realize we have so many cetaceans here like melon headed whales, false killer whales, pilot whales, pygmy sperm whales, rough tooth dolphins, spotted dolphins, beaked whales, and even resident sperm whales! The fact that we see these species so rarely on Maui, or not at all, makes a trip to the Big Island a little more special for people like Heidi and myself. In fact Heidi heads up the Pilot Whale research catalog at Pacific Whale Foundation but had never seen one...until now. As we trolled some mahi lures b...