Ma’alaea Bay, on the south side of Maui, consistently has northeast trade winds blowing through, so another ‘lucky’ Friday, February 24, 2012, when waters are calm and full of whales! The fairly shallow bay seems to appeal to the mothers with calves. There were several pairs, some with an escort. Single whales and groups in the distance.
The baby Humpbacks were very, very active! Riding on top of mom, tail slapping, lunging out of the water, and breaching! We watched a group, including a mother and calf, pectoral and tail-fluke slap the water, near shore in less than 50’ of water. The tide was flooding in, although less than 2’ exchange.
Listening to the singing and communicating whales gives us a glimpse, sense of their acoustically oriented world. I was able to record with one of my videos.
In the distance we see a calf continually tail slapping, while swimming with and on top of mom, as they head into the bay. Was the baby practicing and-or playing? Are baby whales just energetic like other mammals and our young humans?! Well mom surprised us with a breach of her own, my last fuzzy picture!
Many of the calves do look smaller, born later than other seasons, and I noticed overall fewer whales than February of 2011. The recent census numbers confirm this. They may be arriving later and giving birth later this season, I’ll keep you posted!
OnBoard Tours Whales 
OMG, that is so cool to hear those sounds.
By: Theresa Renee Davis on March 17, 2012
at 4:26 PM