It’s whale season here in the waters of the Hawaiian Islands – especially Maui. Maalaea Bay is filling up with these beautiful creatures. The North Pacific Humpback Whale is making its annual appearance in our beautiful clear blue waters. Although technically these marvels are from these parts, they migrate between here and Alaska. During the summer months they live in the Alaskan waters, feasting on krill and small fish until the water becomes too cold. Once that happens they return to Maui to birth their calves and play for the winter months.
Humpback whales are the world’s 5th largest whales and can grow to between 40-50 feet. Their babies typically are born about 10 feet long and 2000 pounds in weight! It is amazing to watch the mothers push their babies to the surface for breaths of air! Full grown adult humpack whales can weigh up to 50 tons! While in these warm waters, humpback whales will fast, typically for about a 4 month season. Unlike sperm whales, humpack whales do not have teeth and rely on their baleen to filter feed their food. Without an abundance of krill and small fish in the warm Hawaiian island waters, there is little for these whales to feed on here.
The baby whales, or calves, must continue to feed to increase their body fat before returning to the colder Alaskan waters. They will feed on the Mom’s milk which contains 40% milkfat. With the consistency of cottage cheese, the calves will consume approximately 100 gallons of this milkfat daily! Most calves will actually gain about 7-10 pounds every hour!
You have a number of choices for whale watching in the Islands. Our favorite is to do private tours with the SeaFire out of South Maui. Captain Don is a guru on whales and never disappoints us! These pictures were taken last week from his boat.
There is no doubt that the most exhilarating experience is to watch a whale breach. There is, however, great speculation as to why whales breach. Some theories suggest that this is the practical way that they are able to slough the barnacles off their skin. Others suggest that it is to exercise their tail muscles for the long journey back to Alaska. The humpack whale is known to be the 5th largest whale; however, they have the strongest muscle in the entire animal kingdom known as the peduncle. The peduncle is locates on the back 1/3 of its body and with 2 or 3 flaps of its tail, it can push itself out of the water into a full, breathtaking breach.
This year the humpback whale was spotted in October, which is a little earlier than usual. Typically we can expect the whale season to run through March. As we get further into whale season, it is not uncommon to be able to sit on the shore and watch these creatures play along the coast. The Escort whales make room for the Moms and Babies to splash, breach and play throughout the day. So come pull out a beach umbrella, stake your claim of space for the day on one of Maui’s beautiful beaches and be mesmerized by their magnificent beauty. Sign up for an excursion to whale watch. Come play in the beauty that is Maui and keep your eyes peeled!
