OnBoard Tours Whales

Wondrous to see numerous Hawaiian Humpback Whales from land as well as out in the ocean. Since near shore is fairly shallow and with reefs, they don’t often come near shore. Yet if you are scanning from land, you can frequently see groups and many surface behaviors all over the waters and horizon. I really enjoy the sunsets at Kalama Park, and am often delighted by breaching whales! (Are they noticing the sunset too?) I see Green Sea Turtles at dusk too, and saw a group surfing the waves at a north beach of Maui! The whale watch boats seem to abide the 100 yard restriction of approaching the whales, although the whales often chose to approach boats, so you may have a closer encounter with a few whales!

The following photos are off of Makena Beach on Sunday, January 29, 2012, from about 1:30 to 3:10pm. We observed a dozen or more, single and groups of whales, with pectoral fins slapping the water, a few spy hops and breaches. And a mother with what looked like a fairly newborn calf, as its’ fins were pretty floppy; it takes awhile for them firm up! The calf staying right on top of mom, which is common for the mom to help that baby get it breaths! Especially since the trade winds were blowing and stirring up whitecaps on the ocean!

On February 3 and 4, 2012, Whale Trust hosted a very informative Whale Tales, sharing science from many places. Showing the connections between the Pacific Rim whales and us humans, and how the technological tools, such as D-Tags, are helping us understand a bit of the mysteries of the whales underwater lives.

February is officially Humpback Whale month, the photos from the 18^th of the World Whale Day parade!

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