A Whale of a Day

I feel like the only time anyone needs to visit Hawaii is during the whale migration.  Humpback whales come down from Alaska for the winter (they aren't stupid!), have their babies and mate.  They start arriving in November and can stay till early May.  The peak times are February and March.  You can see them from the shore but, to get up close and personal, it's best to be in a boat. This year I went on a photo safari with the Pacific Whale Foundation. Seeing whales is certainly not the hard part.  Taking pictures of them can be very tricky, though. I used all the skills I learned from the masters in Zimbabwe but still managed to miss more shots than I took.

They would tease us with a wave and disappear.

As in any species, the babies are hams!

The ocean was very rough and I had many a bump and bruise trying to prop myself up.

When the whales were being shy, we at least had the West Maui mountains to look at.

Being out at sunset was the best.  I'm coming to the conclusion that sunrises are overrated. That has nothing to do with the fact that I think anything that takes place before 9 AM is at an un-Godly hour.

This mother and baby played for a long time.

I can just hear what she was thinking, "Gonna wear him out so he'll sleep tonight!"

The day was done.

And the whales waved goodbye.

Seeing these creatures so close is thrilling and I never tire of it.  Good thing, because I have yet to capture a breach. Not that I haven't seen them, just that they seem to jump out of the water in the opposite direction that my camera is pointing. Case in point:  a big momma brought her entire body out of the water right by our boat.  It was so close that the wake made us hang on for dear life. How many people got a shot of it? Maybe two.

There's always next year!

Another company that we like for whale watching and snorkeling is Trilogy.