I don’t know what it is about my friend and I, but it seems that we….attract whales. Not just any kind of whale, but humpback whales….during mating season.
These guys right here – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humpback_whale.
My friend and I were lucky enough to be visiting Maui during the courtship and mating season. These whales journey all the way from Alaska to hang right off the coast of Maui and the surrounding islands to make some babies. Word was we had perfect timing and there had been many whale sightings. At this time the males are also competing for the females, and conveniently put on quite a show.
Of course whale watching was on our to do list, and the plethora of whale watching tours meant it was even a fairly cheap activity. While the guy who ran our hostel (Lahaina’s last resort -http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g60634-d1490397-Reviews-Lahaina_s_Last_Resort-Lahaina_Maui_Hawaii.html - highly recommended for a cheap, convenient and eccentric place to stay) said that it was a waste of money, we did it anyways.
The first whale watching trip was on one of the bigger boats, still a nice way to start the morning. We got pretty lucky and saw a bunch of breaches fairly close up, and whale waves.
We asked Kevin (the guy running Lahaina’s last resort) to book us a snorkeling trip for the next day, which ended up being one of the most incredible trips ever. Hawaiian Ocean Rafting - http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g60634-d1463754-Reviews-Hawaii_Ocean_Rafting-Lahaina_Maui_Hawaii.html - highly recommended! Great people. Captain Tom was hilarious, while remaining totally considerate and respectful of the environment. We arrive at the harbour in the morning to a small zodiac boat. There were only 10 other people on our boat, which was awesome. The trip was half day to Lanai, a small island next to Maui, and conveniently a popular spot for all those frisky whales. We snorkeled in two different spots, beautiful coral, fishes, perfectly clear water. A sea turtle even hung out for awhile in one of the spots. So gorgeous. On our way to Lanai, we were lucky enough to catch some more whales breaching, this time quite a bit closer!
We were all insanely happy just to have the chance to see these whales in a smaller more intimate setting. We then made it to Lanai and went snorkeling. On our way back one of the people on our raft noticed some whales quite close by. Captain Tom turned off the engines (you have to turn off your engine if your within 100 yards of the whale). A group of curious humpbacks then came right underneath our raft, swimming under it, and hanging out. These whales would hang out at the surface, and lifted their heads out of the water numerous times to check us out. This is one of the most incredible things I have ever seen. One of those moments that make you feel comfortably aware of how small you really are in terms of our environment. Captain Tom even allowed us to put the snorkel masks on and be held by our feet over the boat. The first time I did it, just as I was being dunked in the water, the whales where lifting themselves out, so I got a glimpse of just how large their bodies are. I have incredible video footage of the whole thing, but being technically challenged I’m not sure I’ll be able to get it on here. The second time I was thrown over I had to be pulled back out fairly quickly, as the whales were close enough to me to do me significant harm, even if by accident.
There really aren’t many words to describe how awesome this was. The whales hung out with us for a good half an hour, and Captain Tom said in the 43 winters he had been doing this, it was one of the most incredible things he had seen. Even though we were already late returning to Maui, we stayed with the whales until they left. Unforgettable.
