We’ve been watching the weather, and the ocean swell forecast – and you know? It’s hit or miss, so we decide to go ahead and schedule our 2nd Whale Watching trip today. We joined the Pacific Whale Foundation, and got a free whale watching trip for one of us, so we want to make sure we fit it in before we leave.
They are calling for large swells and wind, but we’re taking our chances. The day dawns beautifully – a mix of sun and clouds, light breeze. We head over to Ma’alea Harbor (we aren’t driving all the way to Lahaina when we can go out of the harbor which is 30 minutes closer to us), check in at the center, then grab some Vanilla Macadamia Nut coffee while we wait for the tour.
It’s pretty packed on the ship again today – but once we get going, it’s easy to get a spot on the railing right up front by the captain. The water isn’t all that choppy and the swells are small, so I’m a happy girl (but I do have my Dramamine with me, just in case!). We head out into the water, and almost immediately start to see whales.
It’s late in the season, so there are mother whales with their calves as well as male whales who are competing to mate with the females. Most of the whales we see are in pods – either a mother, calf and a male escort, or a female with males which are called competition pods (or com-pods for short). There is a ton of activity – and we sail all over the bay area after whales we’ve seen breaching or chin slapping in competition.
The pictures don’t do it justice. We are really close to a lot of these mammoth creatures. And they are just amazing. The naturalists are great as well, full of all sorts of interesting information. Telling us how the males can actually beat each other up when they are in competition. They have barnacles on them and when they chin slap or pectoral slap and come down on the other whale, they can actually cut them.
After an hour or so, we stop near where we’ve seen some whales so we can drop a microphone into the water to hear the whales sing. You want to talk about amazing? We watched them drop the mic and set it on the speaker, and still it was really hard to believe what we were hearing was real. Incredible!!!!
Definitely a great 2 hour trip! Just fantastic!
Back home, we eat, then head to the beach for the afternoon.
Much later, we hit Kahales for Kenny Roberts who plays acoustic guitar, with the help of a bongo drummer, and sings a hugely wide range of songs – from country to pop to easy listening. Cheap beer, cruddy wine, but hey, I’m getting used to bad Chardonnay! Other than that, it’s a great way to spend Friday night, and watch the local crowd ebb and flow!
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