Logo The Whalesong Project

The Log

 

Go to Home
Go to About Us
Go to How it works
Go to The Captain's Log
Go to Whalesong Photos
Go to all you want to know about humpback whales
Go to News about Whalesong
Go to You can help us
Go to Thank to those who have helped
email us

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Season 2003

Monday, January 20, 2003 - High surf conditions prevail here. Kent and I attempted to fix the intermittent knocking sound this evening. We believe the larger-than-normal waves are interacting with the buoy in ways that are causing these sounds. When the waves subside, we believe these sounds will as well. We will modify the design next battery change. The whales have moved in closer to the hydrophone now, and we are hearing all of the unusual sounds that we have tried to characterize these past two seasons. We will be bringing some whale researchers into our conversation this season, and see what more we can learn. It was an exciting experience coming back in from the buoy on a two person kayak. Many board surfers are enjoying the 4 to 8 ft. swells here. We caught a good one and had a fast safe ride to shore. Please enjoy these ocean sounds and malama i ke kai.

ps. Our friends Markus and Silke from Germany have put up a German version of the whalesong website at www.whalesong.info. They report that we have many German listeners right now. We say "Guten Tag! Wir sind sehr glucklich unser deutschen Freunden haben hier gekommt!"

Sunday, January 19, 2003 - Rough seas prevail here. Kent swam to the buoy and fixed the noise problem, but it is ocurring again periodically. We are reviewing the design a bit, and hope to fix it soon. In the meanwhile, whales are singing and they are also active on the surface here in South Kihei.

Saturday, January 18, 2003 - Fascinating full moon sounds tonight!

Friday, January 17, 2003 - Coming into the full moon, which is beautiful here tonight, we can hear whales singing in the distance. Last year they moved in closer to the hydrophone at about this time period, so the vocalizations could become more dramatic at any time. We think the hydrophone is tangled on the anchor line, which would account for some sporadic noise we are hearing. We hope to remedy this soon.

Thursday, January 16, 2003 - The system is up and running. You are hearing the live sounds of the ocean off of Kihei, Maui.

We are currently deploying the buoy. The sounds you hear for the next hour or so are live sounds of technical activities. If all goes well, you will be hearing whales and ocean sounds again very soon. There are a few waves, which are challenging with the buoy in the kayak, but not the rough seas we had yesterday.

Wednesday, January 15, 2003 - A storm front passed through the area this afternoon, bringing high winds, rain and rough seas. Kent has finished repairs to the buoy, and we expect to have it in the water tomorrow.........sea conditions permitting. We've received requests for information on the music we have bee playing while the hydrophone is down. The CD is called "Pure Hawaiian" and information on it is available at www.quietstormrecords.com.

Repairs to the buoy are still in progress. High winds and rough seas prevail here at noon on Wednesday. If things calm down we expect to get the hydrophone back in the water by sunset.

Repairs to the hydrophone system have taken longer than we hoped. If all goes well, it will be back on line tomorrow (Wednesday). Whales are very active on the surface. We believe we have noted a pattern of high vocal activity during the full moon periods.........so stay tuned.

Tuesday, January 14, 2003 - We hope to have the live whalesongs back on line on Tuesday. We are playing some Hawaiian music while the buoy is being serviced. We could not find "Haleakala Ana 'Ole", one of our favorites, tonight........so we are playing "Pure Hawaiian", a compilation of music from various artists of these islands. While we were servicing the buoy this afternoon two dolpins were reported in the area. The whales continue to be very active, and we expect their vocal activity to be high during the full moon period coming up. So stay tuned and take care.

Monday, January 13, 2003 - The whales have moved back into this area of South Maui in large numbers. There has been a lot of surface activity, and a lot of vocalizing below the surface. We are working on the hydrophone system tonight.....it is in need of some relatively minor repairs. We hope to be back on the air early tomorrow (Tuesday).