Whale Season in Maui

 

The whale watching action has been incredible lately in Maui. The humpback whales are here for their annual migration to the mating and calving grounds around the Hawaiian Islands. We have been quite lucky the past few weeks with our whale encounters. I've snagged a few photos that you can check out here.

I love getting as low to the water level as possible. It is a special feeling when you are looking up at a whale.

This is a tail throw or 'peduncle throw.' It can be like the roundhouse kick of the humpback whale world. It is almost like a reverse breach, where the back 2/3rds of the whale comes out of the water.

A fast shutter speed freezes the action of this powerful tail throw.

A close up of the barnacles growing on the tail of this humpback whale.

I sent this photo into the happywhale.com website that catalogs humpback whales based on their unique white patches seen here. This whale was last spotted in the Inside Passage of British Columbia near Princes Royal Island.

This is the underside of a brand new baby whale's tail. Notice that you don't have the telltale unique white markings yet. Those will form over the next few months.

Almost like this whale was waving goodbye. A good way to end the post.

I shot all of these with a Canon 5d mark ii and a Canon L-series 100-400 telephoto lens. I try to keep my shutter speed above 1/1000th in order to freeze the drops of water spinning off the breaching whale.