Season 2004

May 26, 2004 - The Hokule'a voyaging canoe has reached its first landfall in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. This is a voyage of discovery and of encouraging protection of the environment. Their mission is linked to classrooms across the state of Hawai'i. The Honolulu Advertiser wishes the crew success in today's edition. Read more here. We at Whalesong wish the Hokule'a and crew much success, safety, and favorable winds in this important endeavor.

May 25, 2004 - Today's Opinion Column in The Maui News expresses concern that areas of Maui are being "loved to death." Read the whole column here.

May 23, 2004 - Rising ocean tides are threatening to forever change the environment, homes and lifestysles of people throughout the Pacific and the world according to scientists observing human caused climate change. Read the whole Associated Press story here.

May 23, 2004 -Volunteers on Maui are scouting the beaches for nesting sea turtles. Sometimes the eggs can be protected. Call the Kealia Pond National Wildlife Refuge if you are interested in helping 808 875-1582.

May 1, 2004 - Whale season is winding down, but sightings are still being reported. We are repairing the system, and hope to be back up to webcast some late season whale songs.

April 27, 2004 - We are having high surf conditions here on Maui's South shore. We are unable to repair the system until surf conditions are less challenging. We saw a whale yesterday, and in recent years we have seen a few as late as early June. If possible we will get the system working for some late season sounds. In the meanwhile, please enjoy these prerecorded songs.

April 23, 2004 - The system problem has been one of those that dissappears at the most inopportune moment, only to start again when we are sleeping. It appears wave action may have broken a wire in the hydrophone. Much work required to replace it, so we have recorded sound for now.

Whalesong provided a live feed for the Earth Day celebration in Hilo, Hawaii yesterday. We fixed the hydrophone, again, about 12:30 and it lasted most of the day. It was intended to be a first, live whale songs joind by live musicians on stage.

April 20, 2004 - The system was having a little trouble over the last 24 hours, but a quick trip out to the buoy seems to have taken care of the problem. The whales are very obviously still here and singing their songs.

April 12, 2004 - We have installed fresh batteries in the system and the whales are singing in great numbers as of 7:26 pm Hawai'i time. We are noticing that the whales come in closest to the microphone late at night and early mornings. We are speculating that they move farther away during the daytime to avoid all of the boat noise and human activities that occur close to shore on Maui.

April 11, 2004 - We had three great days at Celebration of the Arts at the Ritz Carlton in Kapalua. Many people visited our display and a lot of good conversations took place related to ocean health, educating our youth about the environment, and......well, whales. People are truly fascinated by their songs and they sang off and on throughout the weekend.

April 5, 2004 - He ka pö Külua, këia. It is the night of the Külua moon, according to the Hawaiian Moon Calendar. The moon is full, and the whales are singing - plenty! Kent sends the following observations from his lab mauka of Kamaole Beaches, Kihei:

"Full moon 10.20pm - Listening to droning/ chorusing of whales. Noticed incredible pattern in the singing. Probably the last 10 whales around are singing together, but not typical “song”, They each have taken their part in a repetitious chorus and it reminds me of a drumming circle. Each player takes their part and repeats it at the appropriate time to orchestrate the whole. Then one key player falters and stops, the whole chorus slowly dissolves over a period of about 4 “bars” of the chorus. Then a new beat enters and grows, and within a few minutes, a new chorus has begun. It’s a very “organic” mélange of trance, meditation, song, funk, heralding, guttural groove, rhythm, breath, ecstasy. Not at all what the researchers describe as “competitive behavior”. I’m afraid I have to agree with Jim Darling, www.whaletrust.org, there is a cooperative thing going on here that we don’t understand."

We received an email today from Hawai'i's beloved composer and musician Dennis Kamakahi, who writes "Aloha....I see my friends are back and singing their joyful songs." Dennis will be performing on Maui on April 13, at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Kapalua. For details see www.slackkey.com.

April 3, 2004 - News of the two dolphins visiting the hydrophone spread rapidly through the neighborhood here. Today, we learned of a local dolphin and her baby who sometimes visit this area. The story, from a reliable source, is told that the Mother dolphin was injured, but was fed and nursed to health by a local human woman . The human named this dolphin Nai'a, which means dolphin in Hawaiian. When Nai'a had her baby, she brought it to her human friend and introduced them. They remain "friends" and the human woman is visited by them regularly when she goes into the ocean. Our source thinks it is likely that these two dolphins are the ones who visited the Whalesong listening post - because "these two are usually alone, and most local dolphins are in larger pods." - Posted by Kaimana

April 2, 2004 - It was one of those moments that happen in Hawai'i...I'm sure they happen other places and we don't always notice...but they give you what Hawaiian's call "chicken skin" and others call "goose bumps." Early this morning something bumped into the hydrophone and was making sounds right next to it. I suspected it was Kent, or one of a number of local ocean people who occasionally swim to the hydrophone site and make playful whale sounds into it for fun. I looked out and saw calm seas and the Whalesong hydrophone.......with no one close by. This went on for about ten minutes and I was puzzled, but tried to continue with pressing work. Then the sound got louder, pulsing..... then a very low frequency pinging sound at a low pitch....nothing like the songs the whales are singing this season. I looked out again at the ocean and noticed that one of the Wailea Canoe Club canoes was sitting about twenty yards from the Whalesong buoy, and the paddlers were looking towards the buoy. A dolphin surfaced and circled the buoy, and continuted to "play" around it for a few more minutes. It was surreal. Dr. Elizabeth Ayson, one of Whalesong's Directors showed up and I told her about it, but part of me didn't quite believe it. We walked over to the canoe club and asked a couple of the paddlers if they had seen dolphins. "Yes, two of them -they were circling the whale microphone," they replied. Chicken skin! - Posted by Kaimana

March 29, 2004 6:00 PM - The Hydrophone is live again!!! We just redeployed the system with freshly charged batteries. A rainbow over Haleakala (House of the Sun) greeted us as we dropped anchor. We are still adjusting sound levels, and we are noting that the whales are in the distance at this time.

March 28, 2004 - The whale vocalizations and songs have been going nonstop here lately. Last night and early this morning we have been listening to some really mysterious and enchanting melodies. The batteries ran down approx. 09:30 a.m. and we will be servicing the system. Please enjoy some recorded material in the meantime.

March 27, 2004 - We are celebrating several good things today. One is that the hydrophone system has been running very well for almost two weeks straight. Maintenance requirements have been minimal, which has allowed us to work on projects that help pay the bills. Another good thing is that we have had Markus and Silke here for the past two and a half weeks from Germany. Their presence here is really a blessing for the project, and their enthusiasm and good energy touches everyone they meet here on Maui. The have been helping move the project forward here, and they have incorporated Whalesong Germany. Finally we are planning to go on a whalewatch tomorrow...........first of the season for some of us. So much work, so little time..........Viel zu tun, so wenig Zeit, as Markus and Silke would say. The whales are still here in numbers, they are singing beautiful songs tonight. We expect the batteries to require charging soon, and the hydrophone may go down for service for up to 1 day. Please enjoy the songs of the whales, na mele o na kohola.

March 26, 2004 - Thanks again -Mahalo nui!!! to Ron Youngblood at The Maui News for his beautifully expressed story yesterday about the"first seasonal tourists to discover the Hawaiian Islands." He's referring to na Kohola, the Hawaiian Humpback whales, of course. Ron began listening to their Mele, their songs, years ago during dives in Maui Nei. He has been listening to this webcast and writing about The Whalesong Project for four seasons now, for which we are grateful. Ron says, "There is much the songs could teach if we knew how to translate them....what the songs signify, what the messages they may be carrying, is the stuff of poetic imagination." There are many of us who share your sentiments, Ron. Thank you again for calling people's attention to na Kohola, and to our project. See the whole story by clicking here, or check out Ron's "Maui Nei" column regularly at The Maui News. If you stay in touch with the Maui News, you'll see that the population of this small island is very excited about another Maui singer, Camile Velasco, who is doing very well in the "American Idol" competition. We're proud of you, Camile!!!

March 21, 2004 - We have grown to appreciate the work of NOAA, a federal agency that does not receive a lot of attention, but does a great deal of important work.....like manage the National Marine Sanctuary here in Hawai'i. They also conduct atmoshpheric research. The latest data from their observatory on top of the ancient volcanic peak of Mauna Loa on the big island of Hawai'i, shows that carbon dioxide levels in the atmoshpere continue to rise. This is of great concern for all of us....not just those of us who love and appreciate the beauty of the oceans.............but for everyone, because rising sea levels and melting polar ice caps could wreak havoc on the world economy, food supplies, and on the quality of life we enjoy. So do something if you can - buy a hybrid automobile, put solar panels on your home, vote with your conscience in the next election.

March 19, 2004 - Ua Nani na mele o na kohola ma keia po nei. That's Hawaiian for "The songs of the whales last night were beautiful." The whales have been particularly active in their vocalizations in the late night/early morning hours. The songs this morning were exquisite and much different than those we heard the first year....this is our fourth season and we have heard the songs change a bit each year. The hydrophone cable is occasionally rubbing against the anchor line and causing some noise. If it persists, we will go to the hydrophone this late afternoon and attempt to resolve it. Aloha kakou!

March 17, 2004 - We have been making adjustments to the sysem and we are pretty happy with how things are working this evening. There are some beautiful songs being expressed by the whales tonight off of the beautiful coast of this, the Honua'ula Ahapua'a district of Maui. The website was down part of last evening due to problems at the server, which is actually in New Jersey. When the website is down, you can still access the live sounds of the whales by pasting the following URL into Realplayer or another MP3 streaming program www.whalesong.net/whalesong.ram. Or access us through www.live365.com. Search for whalesongmaui. Aloha to all of you who are listening tonight.

March 16, 2004 - The songs and underwater vocal activities of the whales have been most remarkable in the early morning hours here in Hawai'i....between midnight and 6 am.

March 14, 2004 - The system is now working! This, our fourth season, has been a challenging one. We still have much work to do to get where we want to be. A double rainbow greeted us as we launched during a small storm this morning. Please enjoy the sounds of the Humpback Whales.

March 13, 2004 - Whales are jumping close to shore here this evening. We have a new hydrophone system working, and we have been contemplating putting it in the ocean before dark. We have high offshore winds right now, which may make returning to shore after dark difficult. We've made a decision to put it in the water first thing in the morning. We have been testing the webcast system, so if you hear Hawaiian music tonight, it is part of the test. We are playing Uncle Ledward Ka'apana here as the sun goes down. Markus and Silke are here from Germany, where they have just completed incorporating Whalesong as a nonprofit organization. So we have Whalesong on two continents officially now. We hope to have the live webcast on line by 9:00 am Hawai'i time, so that we can make it down to Lahaina for the Ocean Activity Festival under the Banyan Tree. We hope to see some of you there.

February 18, 2004 - Whales are plentiful here now. We are continuing to face challenges to getting the buoy in the water this season. If you would like to help support the deployment of our new system, please consider donating a few dollars, or more, to help us defray the mounting costs of this project. Thanks!!! See our How you Can Help Page.

February 10, 2004 - We are very happy to report that Whalesong Germany has been incorporated, and that Markus and Silke will be back in Maui in March to help us get the project back on track!!!

February 10, 2004 - We are noting increased incidents of contact between humans and whales this season. Some of these contacts are benign and marked by playful activities. There have also been some accidents. A fisherman off of Maui was injured when his motorcraft accidentally struck a whale. A young boy died after a fall to the deck when a whalewatching boat accidently struck a whale off of O'ahu. And yesterday a Humpback calf was struck by a speedboat and severely injured off of Maui. It was not expected to live and was being protected by its mother when last seen. Please remember that these waters are full of whales now, and try to "drive carefully" to prevent injuries to humans and whales!

January 17, 2004 - We are in the "advanced" stages of the hydrophone system construction for this season. We had a major storm front pass through the area recently, and the surf is still large at the buoy site. Whales are here, and singing. We hope to provide the live audio feed in the very near future.

December 19, 2003 - We are very happy to announce the marriage of George Kahumoku and Nancy Winston on December 18 2003. George serves on Whalesong's Board of Directors. He is an educator, musician, organic farmer, author, and Hawaiian cultural resource. Nancy has helped to spread Hawaiian music to the world through her work with Dancing Cat Records. She is also a talented hula dancer, who performs with George in his travels throughout the world. The marriage ceremony was performed by Kahu Edward Bigelow, who is incidentally the President of the Whalesong Board of Directors, on the beach at one of Maui's most important cultural sites, Ko'ie'ie Loko I'a, an ancient fish pond that sits adjacent to the Humpback Whale Sanctuary headquarters in Kihei. We wish George and Nancy a long and happy life together!

George Kahumoku and Nancy Winston Kahumoku

Photo by Edward Bigelow

December 16, 2003 - We are dedicating the holiday season to getting our system back up and running. Last season took it's toll on our equipment and we are building a new buoy and repairing damage to the electronics. Thanks again to Kent and Jewel Noonan for their dedication, and to Sheri Iatzko at Five Palms Restaurant for her continued support and her thoughtful reports from one of the best whale watching spots in the world. And thanks and Happy Birthday to another of Whalesong's treasured volunteers, Rich Shipley. If you would like to hear some great Hawaiian music check out Rich's website!

December 15, 2003 - It's official! The Whale Season is upon us, and no more are jet skis running around Maui waters. The whales are here to have their babies and to procreate, and to do whatever else they do when they return to Hawai'i Nei every year for countless past centuries, perhaps millenia. We are working to get our improved system online. There are many, many things involved in this process. These include the many technical details of the network and webcast servers, the remote radio link, the hydrophone and audio system, the buoy......and funding it all and making the time to do it. Of utmost concert to us is safety: Safety of our volunteers, safety of the public, safety of the ocean and sea life around our equipment. We would very much like to be up and running in the next two weeks. Please check back in for updates.

Whalesong's Nona Beamer Honored in Honolulu Ceremony.

December 12,2003 - Nona Beamer, a founding member of the Whalesong Project, and one of our cherished Hawaiian Culture resources for the project, has been given the "Ho'okahiko Award" during a ceremony at Duke's Waikiki restaurant. She was honored for her contributions to the culture and traditions of Hawai'i. The award is presented each year to an individual who "exemplifies the finest traditioins of Hawai'i." Nona was presented proclamations from Governer Linda Lingle and Mayor Jeremy Harris declaring the day "Aunty Nona Beamer Day." Rep. Galen Fox, R-Waikiki, presented a House resolution recognizing Nona as a "living treasure." She also received a letter from U.S. Senator Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, recognizing her outstanding contributions. Nona is an educator, author, composer, musician and Kumu Hula (hula teacher). We are honored to have her on our Board of Directors, and to have her as a friend. You can read the article in the Honolulu Advertiser if you would like to learn more..

December 7, 2003 - A pod of four whales, one a singing adult male, and one a yearling calf, were sighted off of Kamaole Beaches yesterday. Whales were also sighted off of Lahaina. We have a lot of work ahead of us to get the system up and running, but we are making progress.

December 3, 2003 - It's another beautiful day here on Maui. Everything is still fresh and clean from the rain we had here on Monday. We are hearing increasing reports of whale sightings, and we hear there is a very large whale shark spending time around Molokini this week. We continue to work towards getting the hydrophone back in the ocean soon.

November 27, 2003 - It's a beautiful day here in Maui with plenty to be grateful for.We are working on getting the hydrophone back in the water. The whales are here in relatively small numbers. We had one report of a small sailboat making the overnight journey from O'ahu to Maui, escorted by a whale on each side of the boat, and some spinner dolphins.

There has been a lot of interest in the culural ties to the whales in Hawai'i and the South Pacific, particularly since the Whalerider movie was released. We have decided to gather stories, myths and legends related to the whales and oceans, with a goal of preserving these stories that reflect the richness of the cultures....and of the strong ties to the oceans and the islands that have sustained them for centuries. A story from the Marshall Islands came to us yesterday. The story goes that the Queen there is connected with the whales, and that when a queen dies, a whale also dies. A large pod of whales also gather to mourn the deaths, and the cries can be heard on shore.

We hope to have a strong season this year, better sound quality. And we are looking forward to hearing what the songs sound like this year. They continue to change as their story, or whatever it is they are communicating, changes.

Our blogging software is not working due to changes at blogger.com that created incompatibility with our server. We are working to overcome this. Please stay tuned.