Whale watching in Hawaii is an experience of a lifetime.
It is just after sunset here in Maui on a glorious February evening. For the last hour, we were glued to our balcony not to watch the stunning sunset against the magnificent drop that is Hawaii. That alone should have sufficed, for the beauty which Mother Nature has bestowed upon Hawaii is abundant. But we had more. We were following the playful slapping of a young humpback whale’s tail against the surface of the big blue waters. We have witnessed it dozens of times during our short week here and yet, there is no tiring of such a sight. The sight of these gentle giants of the sea playing, breaching, and tail slapping is something to behold.
About the video: The main footage was taken on our shaky ride out to Pacific Whale Foundation‘s whale watching tour off the Maui coast. As you can hear, I have gasped every time the huge sighting of the whales has appeared (you would think it is my first time seeing them!) and for that I apologize. I would have taken it out, if it weren’t for the boat recording the famous male whale song via the water microphone as part of their research, and that my friends, you have got to hear!
It is February and it is the height of season for humpback whales here in the Hawaiian islands, and it is this beauty alone that I believe can restore all of what winter has taken away from us in its bitter cold this year. You can watch these amazing creatures right from the shores of Kaanapali beach (among other beaches in Hawaii) as well as going on special whale watching tours. The humpback whales spend their summers in Alaska where they feed in the polar waters, and then migrate to tropical waters of Hawaii to mate and breed. You can see them there from December to May, but February is the sweetest month of all for indulging in their action and beauty!
The Pacific Whale Foundation is a superb non-profit organization with a mission to research, study, and most of all protect marine life especially whales and dolphins. They do a magnificent job. I have been to several of their whale watching tours over the years and highly recommend using them exclusively for your whale watching trips. Most of all, they speak against the despicable act of Whaling, which there are not enough ways to condemn and which still goes on, unbelievable as it may be, in some parts of the world.
You can join me in supporting their tireless efforts by becoming a Pacific Whale Member and by learning about these beautiful mammals that add so much beauty, grace, and delight to the oceans of the world.
Traveling changes your mind and expands your horizons! If you like to see the other travel stories here, check On the Road category.
Educating ourselves is the first step to better understanding and protecting anything on this planet, and this extends without an exception to the humpback whales. So learn a little about these magnificent animals and love them a lot. Even though the web is filled with heaps of information about these gentle giants, here are my Quick 10 Humpback Whale Factoids for you:
1. Whales are marine mammals. They have lungs instead of gills, hair instead of scales, and they give birth live.
2. The whales do not eat the entire time (6-8 weeks) spent in Hawaii during whale season (Dec-May).
3. The whales come to Hawaii to breed and mate. Their babies are referred to “calves”, and the Mama Whale does not let them out of her sight during their entire stay in the Hawaiian waters.
4. The male whales produce a 10-20 minute male song, the most complex vocalization in the animal kingdom, during the mating season (partially recorded on the video here.)
5. No vessel in Hawaiian waters is allowed to operate when a whale approaches to within 100 yards.
6. The weight of an adult humpback whale is around 80,000 pounds (36,000 kgs)
7. They are called the gentle giants of the sea, and pose no harm to people or other mammals despite their magnificent size.
8. The dolphins in Hawaii have been observed to “hang out” with the whales and researchers still do not know why!
9. Breaching is when the whales jump entirely out of the water, using their powerful pectoral fins, and they do it either to clean their skin, scare off prey or just to have fun!
10. Approximately 1,500 to 2,000 humpback whales visit the waters around Maui each year between December 15th and May 15th and there is no experience like watching them during their yearly visit to paradise.
All photography by Prolific Living during our February 2010 Whale Watching tour off the coast of Lahaina in Maui.
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{ 12 brilliant comments, Care to add another? }
Farnoosh, I spent several winters days cheered by the thought of you in Hawaii and was looking forward to this post. No disappointment!
Rebekah, you are a sweet love! I think you are simply impossible to disappoint. Thank you!
Ran across this today… A new study suggests whales act as a significant carbon sink. Whaling increase the amount of carbon in the atmosphere and therefore speeds global warming. http://news.discovery.com/earth/whales-carbon-climate-change.html
Jerry, thank you for sharing. I am afraid I actually do not believe in global warming, I think it’s a strong enough reason not to kill whales and let them live in their natural habitat!
Interesting. I’d love to ask why you feel this way, but it’d derail this lovely post pretty badly. I wholeheartedly agree with your second sentence, however.
Yes you would derail it badly. But I’ll give you this for starters and we can agree to disagree. I’ll be the right one
!
My review of Michael Crichton’s State of Fear!
What a brilliant article. I particularly love the whale facts, I love the humpbacks when they come to the east coast of Australia to visit.
Reading your article I am thinking that Maui must be more like our northern Queensland waters around Hervey Bay where the whales go to calve and spend their first month or so getting stronger before taking the trip back to the Antarctic.
I was also surprised that you get only 1500 to 2000 humpbacks per year we are getting 10000 plus and growing each year. Is your whale population under any threat from the whaling that goes on? I am not familiar with the northern hemisphere whaling issues.
I could go on and on about the whales, I love them and we are in our whale watching season on the Gold Coast right now – ours is June to November so almost opposite to yours!
Thanks for the great article, I will stop by and read some more of your interesting thoughts.
Annie from Gold Coast Australia
Dear Annie, how lovely to hear from someone from down under
!
I love, LOVE Australia, but have only spent 2 weeks in Sydney. We would love to return. Hawaii is not in any danger of whaling thank God….although I don’t know how far the Japanese are allowed to do their terrible whaling but pretty sure it’s not the waters which the darling whales travel from Alaska to Hawaii. That population has GROWN tremendously while still very small. Let’s hope that the calving continues and that they thrive for as long as they can…..I love whales as you do. I do hope to see you here more and more. All the best from the US and thanks for your warm and delightful comment!
Good to hear that your whales are not under threat and let us hope that they continue to multiply and thrive. Unfortunately that is not the case with our whales in Australia, so we are very strongly against what goes on in the Southern Oceans near Antarctica.
Thank you for your warm welcome to your blog, I feel we share may common interests so I look forward to checking out more of your articles and reading more from you.
Until next time,
Annie from Gold Coast Australia
I am as strong and bitter about whaling as you are, Annie…..I have the same hopes and aspiration for these darling giants of the sea too. Thank you again and welcome to the blog. Love to have such a thoughtful reader as yourself!
Absolutely brilliant pictures! It’s too bad they don’t do it justice compared to standing on a boat watching them and seeing how enormous they are in real life!
Here on Oahu we get to see them from the shore quite easily. Especially if you take a hike on Diamond head early in the day during whale season you can usually spot whales in the distance.
Last Fabulous Post by Waikiki Beach Bum was Aqua Waikiki Pearl
Thank you so much and hi to you in Waikiki. A lovely beach. We like Oahu too but I usually go straight to Maui. We even went up Diamond Head once (April) but not during whale watching season. You can see these beauties standing on the shores of Maui too and I am so happy you enjoyed these photos!!
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