Whales for Days

Whales!

It's Whale Season!

Our winter visitors, the Humpback Whales, are back in Hawaii.   It's that magical time of year when the whales swim 2,000+ miles from the chilly, food rich waters of Alaska to enjoy the warm Aloha of Hawaii for mating and calving.     Whale season runs from November through April.  It's peak season right now.   The guides call it whale soup or whale popcorn, because they are everywhere.   And it's awesome.

Getting a good picture of a whale is a combination of good luck and clicking at the right time.  
I suppose a lightening fast shutter or burst mode doesn't hurt either.

A lot of my whale pictures look like this...

A whale was there, I promise

I went on two different trips this past week.   I would highly recommend them both.     First, was the Discover Molokini snorkel trip from Trilogy Excursions.   You start the day with coffee and cinnamon rolls, cruise to Molokini, snorkel, eat lunch, bask in the sun, and sail back with mai tais.   This time of year, there is the added bonus of, you guessed it, whales.    I didn't take an underwater camera to Molokini, just wanting to soak in the moment, so you'll just have to imagine brightly colored fishes of all shapes and colors.  

I'll have a mai tai.   Maybe two.

A lovely morning for a photo safari

I also went on a Whale Photo Safari with the Pacific Whale Foundation.    This is a small group raft trip with serious photographers in mind.    My camera was probably the smallest on board.  I saw some of the pictures from the staff photographer on board - absolutely amazing.  You could see the baleen in the whale's mouth.    

Boats can only approach whales up to a certain distance, but if the whale chooses to swim closer, or, ahem, come right up behind the raft, that's just fine.   We lucked out with amazing whale action all morning including mother and baby whales and crazy competition pod action. Competition pods are groups of bachelors vying for the attention of a lovely lady whale.    There's a lot of breaching, fighting and fin slapping.   Must be how those bachelors show their worth.  

Baby whale learning how to breach

Well hello there friend

This makes three whale excursions so far this season, and I will probably go again.   It never gets old.

Have you been on a whale watch?    Where did you go?
Where's your favorite place to see animals in their natural habitat? 

Whale Watching, Now with MORE Whales

At the end of December, I went on a whale watch and wrote about how whales are hard to photograph.     Being wild animals and all, they are definitely not interesting in posing.    And it's hard to pose anyway when you have to swim to stay alive.       

February is peak whale season.  The 22nd was the Great Whale Count.  1,311 whales were counted by volunteers all over Maui.     Over the weekend I went out with some friends on a Pacific Whale Foundation whale watching cruise.

Whales everywhere!    

Mom whales.   Calf whales.  Primary escort whales.   Competition pod whales (these are the guys who are fighting with each other and the primary escort to win the girl).   

If you are in Hawaii right now, you should be out on a whale watch.    Unless it's dark.   Then you should be planning yours. 

Or drinking a Mai Tai.   

World Whale Day 2014

Yet another celebration I can get behind:  World Whale Day.

Yesterday there was a big festival in Kihei, including the 34th annual Parade of Whales.     This was my first time attending a parade here in Maui.     Who doesn't love a parade?   Especially one celebrating our special winter visitors, the humpback whales.

Next week, I'm going on a Pacific Whale Foundation whale watch.    The whales have really been out to play the past month and I've been able to watch them from the beach, but I'm excited to be out in the water again and see them up close.

Have you been to any festivals recently?     If you were going to create a celebration for your favorite animal, what would it be?

Whales are Hard to Photograph

'Tis the season here in Maui.

The season for whale watching, that is.    Each year the humpback whales spend their summers feasting on delicious krill up in Alaska and then cruise to Hawaii to calve and teach their baby whales to swim.

The thought of a baby whale is so cute.  

12-14 feet long and one ton cute.

That's one BIG baby.

I went on my first whale watching excursion of the season right after Christmas.    We took a catamaran through Trilogy Excursions straight from the beach at the Ka'anapali Beach Hotel.    

Not too far from the shore we saw lots of spinner dolphins.    Apparently for each enthusiastic dolphin we saw leaping (and yes, spinning), there are 2-3 more snoozing beneath the surface.     Dolphins, like whales, are hard to photograph.     They are wild animals.    This is not a show at the aquarium.    At any given moment they will launch themselves into the air.  By the time that you do a little dance and squeal "look at the whale/dolphin!" it's all over.  

There were dolphins everywhere!
But you'd never know by looking at this picture

It's almost impossible to get a picture unless you taken constant shots.    Or you get lucky.    Or maybe you're a professional with endless patience.   

Your odds of a great wildlife photo are much better if you see sea turtles napping in the sun.

See?  Turtles

Or can take stylized pics of the sail and sky.    Instant awesome.  

I know I will go on another whale watching cruise.   And probably another after that.

Because I still want my "I saw a whale" shot.