We took a whale watching tour one morning with the hopes of getting a closer glimpse of the incredible humpback whales. We decided to go with Hawaii Ocean Rafting, a smaller whale watching outfit for the simple reason that their raft only takes out 16 guests max per tour, so you're not stuck on a large vessel with tons of people. Also, what also excited me about this tour is they take you out on a 30ft hard-bottom inflatable motorized raft and so you feel like you are right on the water.
The morning we went out it was rather windy and the water was quite choppy. We started out nonetheless and at one point our captain said we may have to turn back because the water was only going to get worse, but in the end he decided the heck with it and we continued on. Good thing, because about 5 minutes later we found a spot where the water was a little calmer and pretty soon thereafter we spotted our first whale. Turns out it was a momma whale and her calf. We followed them for quite some time and they entertained us by breaching, slapping their pectoral fins and tail flukes on the water. We learned a bit about humpback while on this trip. These whales migrate to Hawaii from Alaska in the winter to give birth and to breed. This would explain why as we followed momma whale and her calf we also saw a couple other whales, presumably males, chasing her.
Most of them choose to hang around Maui and I think this shows their intelligence in picking such a great spot....if you're going to travel thousands of miles why not a beautiful, warm, sunny place like Maui? While in the Hawaiian waters, the whales actually do not eat and just live off their fat reserves. Once they head back up to Alaska for the summer, they will start feeding again, mostly on krill and small fish. They can reach up to 50 feet and weigh up to 50 tons. We had one of the whales swim towards us and right under the raft. Surprisingly no one aboard panicked and we got to see this massive whale up close and personal. It's a good thing it decided to remain under water while under our raft but I have to say I was a little disappointed that when it came through the other side that it didn't come out of the water at all. I guess it must have been aware of our boat and the other one nearby.
This was the reason for coming to Maui this time. It was really worth it and the tour did not disappoint. And to be able to see them from the beach too was just incredible. What a fantastic once in a lifetime experience.
To travel is to live....until next time...life is good!
We've come back to Maui for a bit of break from reality. This time we're here beginning of March to enjoy the humpback whale migration season. I'm a little hesitant to travel here in March because it's the start of spring break and I tend to like to travel when kids are in school. So if it weren't whale season I probably wouldn't have chosen this time to come. Z's sister and her family overlapped for part of our trip and we spent a great day at the beach with them playing in the ocean, snorkelling and just hanging around. It also happened to be one of the few really sunny days we had, so that was a treat.
We arrived late Wednesday evening and were greeted by both the warm air of Maui nights and tropical showers. The weather has been hit and miss. We've had a few tropical showers intermixed with sunny periods and lots of wind. There's nothing stranger than sunbathing and enjoying the beautiful sound of the surf crashing onto the shoreline only to have a cloud blow in carrying some rain showers and a couple minutes later be basking in the sun again. It's quite a bit cooler here right now than in previous trips and I've never had to wear long sleeves before, but I'm so glad to have packed a hoodie and light jacket this time round. Z says it's just a weird weather week because the week prior it was hot and sunny. At least the rain showers aren't lasting all day and as we've found out they aren't covering the entire island. We travelled about a 10 minute drive south of Lahania to have lunch at Leoda's and watched the temperature gauge change a good 9 degrees warmer than in Ka'anapali. Despite the strange weather overall, we did manage to get 2 full days of vitamin D time and have suntans to show for it.
The beauty of whale season is you can see these magnificent whales breaching and slapping their fins right from the beach. From our hotel beach you could see them in the distance....a little too far out for my camera but a great sight to see nonetheless. I still can't figure out how these huge animals project themselves out of the water. We were treated to the most fascinating whale slapping show one afternoon. One whale gave us quite the show as if he or she knew there was an audience and spent a good amount of time slapping their pectoral fin on the surface followed by lobtailing - which is when the whale sticks its tail straight out of the water and then slaps the surface. We were also treated to numerous views of the humpback arched out of the water. There were a few occasions when the whales were closer towards the shore and it made for watching them that much more of an amazing experience.
One evening as we were sitting on the beach waiting for the sunset, we were delighted to see a pod of dolphins swim by. Again an entertaining sight with several of them leaping out of the water spinning in the air; one even did a back flip. What a treat to see these two magnificent creatures in their natural environment enjoying the simple pleasures of play.
Z got up close and personal with a turtle family off the shore by our hotel. And on one of our snorkelling adventures by Charlie Young beach in Kihei, I too got to see a family of three turtles. These turtles were huge and just lounging around on the bottom of the ocean. This area had some decent amount of colourful fish and I got to see a needlefish that appeared to be at least 3 feet long. Even better though, when you stuck your head under water and just listened you could hear the humpback whales communicating with one another. It was pretty cool to hear.
We also found a Hawaiian monk seal sunbathing on the beach up at Ho'okipa beach. Monk seals are an endangered species and is only 1 of 2 remaining monk seal species. Whenever a monk seal rests on the shoreline, conservation volunteers arrive and monitor the seal cordoning off the surrounding area so that no one distributes it.
There are plenty of good places to eat on Maui and we returned to some of our favourite Maui eateries again - Duke's, Leoda's, Monkeypod and Cheeseburgers. The corn chowder at Monkeypod was the best I've ever had at a restaurant - it doesn't quite compare to mine though. We tried a new restaurant in Paia on our last day. Paia is a small, eclectic town situated on the north end of Maui...we ate at Milagro's, a Mexican restaurant right on the corner of the "major" intersection in Paia and a great place for people watching. I had the chicken quesadilla, which was so flavourful and filling. Z had the mahi mahi fajitas and enjoyed those. It was a great meal to end our trip. One of my favourite tropical drinks is the pina colada, but I tried a twist to it this time around called the lava flow and think it takes the cake! It's a pina colada mixed with strawberry puree and when poured into a glass, looks like a lave flow. It's really cool.
We experienced some of the most spectacular sunsets I've ever seen. While I didn't enjoy the cloud cover during the day, the clouds did look fantastic during the sunsets with the sky lit up and the sun reflecting off the clouds. The colours of the sky were something that we just don't get to see much of back home. There's something about tropical sunsets that make me just want to sit and watch from start to finish....
