Humpback Whales Return to Maui

Look Closely: Yearling and Mom

 I started my Hawaii guiding season back in early November and I am pleased to say that I have been able to find humpback whales every week since then for our guests onboard. However, early season whales here in Hawaii can often come up for a few quick breaths and then dive deep for ages, never to see them again. The sightings are usually solo whales on the move, perhaps looking for the few other early season whales among the islands. But this week we saw a gathering of whales into what I think was the first competition pod of the breeding season.

   The sun was getting low in the sky over Lana'i as we spotted two big blows and one smaller blow. We had just finished a wonderful snorkel in Honolua Bay and were planning on heading to calmer water when we stumbled across the whales. It is one of the beautiful things of living and working on a boat on the ocean, you never know what you might see next.

  The smaller of the blows turned out to be a yearling who to our delight started breaching over and over. He was certainly better than newborn calves, and had graduated from the 'flying pickle' breach technique, but still had a ways to go before reach adult full breach status. But he did not lack in the energy department. We saw twenty or thirty breaches until it finally got so dark I had to put my camera down. At one point two groups of whales converged to form a group with about five animals in it. With such an energetic yearling I imagine that mom was pretty well fed herself which means she could very well get pregnant again this year. In a place where the only reason the male whales are here is to breed you can safely assume that was on their mind as the competition group formed.

  And this is still just the start of humpback whale season here in Hawaii! To buy humpback whale prints check out my picture page here: Dai Mar's Humpback Photos