The Whales Are Back on Maui!
The following is a guest blog from Liza Pierce.
The whales are back! The whales are back! I first heard about it on Twitter. The first sighting of whales was on Maui on Oct. 21, 2009 in Lahaina. That was an exciting tweet. I knew it’s only a matter of time before I decide to hop on a boat to go see them for myself. Well, today is furlough Friday for my daughter, Hapa Girl, and so I decided to take her on a Whale Watch Tour. Her friend came along, too.
We went on a 12:30 cruise with the Pacific Whale Foundation, off Maalaea Harbor. Boy, we got lucky! We not only saw some whales, but the whales were very active so we got to see a variety of whale behaviors up close. The boat was in full capacity so the energy and excitement in the boat was contagious. When the first whale was sighted and it did a breach, there are a lot of cheering and clapping. It was fun!
When the boat was sailing out from the harbor, we were required to stay seated. I sat next to Peter and Gregory, who were visiting from Holland. They had been on a whale watch before but are still excited about this trip. Whale watching is really something we never get tired of doing.
Whales are such interesting creatures; there is so much to learn about them. Lucky for us who live on Maui, they come here every winter. It is here where they breed, said Josh, one of our naturalists on the tour. As he mentioned that, a thought came into my head: “Geez, these whales are like many of our visitors who come to Maui to get married and have a lovely honeymoon…” Isn’t that true? J
Back to the whales, we saw at least 3 breaches (others saw 4). That was fantastic! Even the captain couldn’t believe how lucky we were. You see, it’s still quite early in the whale season time. The captain said that so far, our trip was one of the best since they started sightings this year. Aside from breaching, we saw other behaviors and whale activities like “penducle throw” and “blow” and “spy hop”. To learn more about these behaviors, click here.
The breaches by those whales today were spectacular. Too bad I was slow with my camera and did not catch them mid-air! Here’s a “splash photo”, the scene after the breach.
It was an epic day on Maui today. We couldn’t have chosen a better day to go whale watching. The sea was relatively calm, the West Maui Mountain is green due to the rain a couple days ago, the sun was shining bright, and the whales were showing off. The trip is only for 2 hours, and then we headed back to the harbor. A hui hou humpback whales, see you again soon!
About the author
Liza is the blogger behind A Maui Blog I am what they call a “Kamaaina.” She has been living on Maui since 1994 and considers Maui her “home.”