The Tale Tells All

Here's another post from our trip to Maui in 2012. Great memories.


In Hawaii, it is high season in February for whales. Between December and the end of March, thousands of humpback whales make their way back to the place of their birth in the warm waters of the Hawaiian islands. It is not a mass migration but rather a coming and going not unlike a high tourist season when the area might welcome many tourists but not all at one time.

The humpbacks are coming from their home in Alaska. As one naturalist put it, Alaska is the kitchen and Hawaii is the bedroom/delivery room. The whales have spent the greater part of their year feeding in the nutrient rich waters of Alaska where they feed on krill, anchovies, sardines, and a variety of other schooling fish. Then they make the long trek south. Some will stop off in southern California at their breeding grounds. The rest will continue the trek to Hawaii.

Hopefully they have eaten well during their stay in Alaska because they will need all that energy for birthing and breeding neither of which is for the faint-hearted whale. But more of that for another day.

Much research has been done on this species that was almost extinct not long ago. Whaling took a toll on the humpback population. Now that they are no longer hunted and regulations have been put in place to protect their breeding grounds the population has increased 7% in about forty years. At any one time there could be about 3,000 cruising the waters of Hawaii and overall they estimate the Northern Pacific population to be near 20,000. But how do they know they aren't counting the same whale multiple times?

Observers noticed that the tails of whales are distinctive. They each have a pattern sort of like a fingerprint. Naturalists have been taking pictures and studying pictures to determine which whales are returning each year and how many there are. They have even tracked several through the recognition of their tails, or flukes as they are called, as they traveled between Alaska and Hawaii and noted the speed with which they made the trip. The fastest, we were told, was 30 days. Usually it is about six weeks.

The flukes will also tell the story of how much danger the whale has had to deal with. Some have rake marks on them from the teeth of orcas, their natural predator.
They might also have some marks from some of the battles the males have been in with each other over the attentions of a female. Sound familiar? We aren't so different, are we?

While the first sign of a whale is the blow or spout of water shot out when it surfaces, the last you will see of it for a while is the tail. While on the surface it may dive shallowly but when you see the fluke, you know that the whale is headed down for a deeper dive that can last anywhere from five minutes to up to an hour. But the whales are mammals and therefore air breathers. Their lungs are the size of a Volkswagon Beetle. Fill them up and that adult whale, the size of a school bus, is good to go deep.

A whale of a tale, isn't it!

A Whale Of A Story

Back in 2012 we stayed  for a period on Maui in Hawaii. It was whale watching time since January through March is when the whales come into that area to have their babies and mate. Here is one of my favorite stories from that trip.

A Whale Mugging


Some call it kidnapped. Others call it mugged. Whatever the term, it is one of the best experiences you can have on a whale watch. Regulations in the Maui Nui basin prohibit approaching a whale any closer than 100 yards. But no one has found a way to regulate the whales approaching a boat closer than 100 yards. When it happens, the boat must sit and idle until the whale is a safe distance away and the propellers can again be set in motion.


During one of our first excursions into whale watching several years ago it happened! We were mugged! Meaning, three whales began swimming around and under our boat. They played with us for almost 45 minutes as we idled in place and eventually turned off the engine to save fuel, making us late getting back to shore. It was amazing to see the creatures up close and personal. They would turn over, belly side up, and zip under the boat giving us a view of the beauty and grace of these gentle giants. We were treated to a spy hop--a behavior where the whale pokes its head above the surface for a look-see.

This trip, we wondered if it would happen again. We had purchased a package deal of seven whale watching adventures, each two hours long, and were on our seventh when we were again treated to a mugging. We were observing a small competition pod chasing after a female when all of a sudden we realized the female was underneath the boat. She had been beside us tail slapping the water--we took it to mean "get lost boys." It was easy enough to figure out that she'd hidden beneath us because the two males competing for her attention all of a sudden changed course and charged toward us. Breathtaking for a moment. Imagine two school bus-sized whales heading straight for you, water frothing as they are coming at full speed!

Just before reaching the boat, they dove and that's when the captain realized that the female was using us as protection. The three whales swam under and around us, between our boat and a smaller boat next to us, and even surfaced with a couple of spy hops (unfortunately, I wasn't in the best position for a photo this time). They circled and dove and splashed and blew whale snot at us for a time and then moved off far enough that we were released and could make a break for town. On the close up encounter of one of the males you can see where it looks like he might have some damage from fighting with other males--but then I'm not an expert and didn't notice it until I looked at my pictures.

Our two hour trip was over as were our whale watching adventures for now. We felt privileged to have had such close encounters one more time.