Hawaii doesn’t have ‘weather’ seasons like a lot of places in the world. What Hawaii does have is Humpback Whale Season. This is a time period when everyone living on the islands look forward to seeing their “first whale” of the season. Kind of like seeing your first snow of the year, it is always exciting to spot that first whale in the waters surrounding the island.
The Humpback Whales travel from cold waters, Alaska, to Hawaii once a year. The first whale is usually seen in late November and the last whale is seen leaving the islands early May. The Humpback Whales populate all the Hawaiian island’s but seem to gather more around the island of Maui. The shallow coastline waters around Maui offer the whales the perfect place to birth their calves and teach them how to swim. The visitors to Maui, as well the island residents, enjoy sitting on the beach or lanai (balcony) and watching the activity between the mother’ and calve. The mother teaches the baby how to breach (jump) out of the water or how to slap its fin on the water. The baby copies the Mom’s behavior and often, like children, gets carried away with the activity.
The Humpbacks are very acrobatic, often breaching out of the ocean and slapping the water as they come back down. Often the whales stick their tails out of the water and slap it on the surface making a huge spray. This is the type of fun whale watching activity that people love to witness. The only way to know that a whale is in the area is by the tail slapping, breaching or spouting air out of its blow hole. Read the rest of this entry »