Humpback Whales & Their Babies!!! 🐋🐋🐋


   
Oh Maui how I love you. You are one of the few places in the world that will allow me to get up close and personal with my favorite mammal... the humpback whale. Not only did I get to have an intimate experience with an adult, but I got to see their beloved babies grow stronger and learn about their watery environment. 




To watch these magnificent creatures is like nothing I have ever seen before. They are so aware of us around them and while you'd think that the mommas would be not so comfortable with humans around them and their little ones, they surprisingly are. I attribute this to their high intelligence. Being out on the water with them one can see that they are not worried but instead very curious of people. 

I was in a small vessel during this filming and from afar I already established that it was a mom and her baby coming towards us on the surface. I couldn't believe they were coming right towards me and readied my underwater camera for what I was hoping (successfully) for was some great footage. They came close to the boat and in went my camera! I was amazed to not only see but hear the sound of deep humpback whale songs when I finally got to watch my capture. What an experience I will never forget.

This video and experience was had in February this year (2020) before covid-19. Every year over 10,000 humpbacks will make the long journey south to reach Hawaiian waters each winter. While there, they breed, give birth, and help the babies get strong enough to make the journey back up south. The best times to view these magnificent animals are in the months of February and March. It's during these months that the babies are strong enough to provide some amazing sights such as breaching. Once the babies discover breaching they tend to do it constantly! 

I cannot wait to go back next year and even more so make my trip to Tonga to swim with them!



Comments

  1. Trey YasunagaAugust 2, 2020 at 8:40 PM

    Whales are sick. Were you out and about and the whales coincidentally showed up or were you out on like a whale watching boat. Also, the link to your blog in the word document is does not work because its seaoceanlove instead of luv.

    ReplyDelete
  2. MichelleAugust 2, 2020 at 9:15 PM

    First of all, thank you so much Trey, I just sent out an email and was totally bummed because I had no comments! Secondly, I was on a VIP whale tour for 2.5 hours. In previous years I had been on the Pacific Whale Watching Foundation Tour but decided to seek out more intimate tours. This tour had drinks/snacks, 2.5 hour time limit, and max of only 8 people on board, it was great!

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownAugust 13, 2020 at 1:21 PM

    Whales are amazing creatures! If I wanted to be anything in the ocean, it would be a whale. 100%
    About a month ago my boyfriend and I took his boat out just to enjoy some time on the water and we saw a mother humpback whale holding its new born baby just above the ocean to help it breach. It was the sweetest thing. My boyfriend of course threw his water gear on, grabbed his GoPro and jumped in the water swimming up to them to get some amazing footage! I was impressed!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. MichelleAugust 14, 2020 at 8:59 PM

      Oh wow, I would love to see his captures, they are amazing creatures for sure!!

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Open Water Shark Dive

Image
Aloha! Today's blog is all about the open water shark swim I went on last year December 8 for my 32nd birthday. It was super early in the morning and was a 2 hour tour. The price is around $130.00 per person and is up in Haleiwa. This was my second time swimming in open water and I had done a cage tour as well which was less exciting to me. The sharks are trained to respond to the boat motor and will swarm to the surface when they hear or feel the vibrations. The reason they do is because fisherman and the cage encounters are encouraged to chum the water in that area so the sharks can learn to associate the motor with food. Of course, the open swim encounter does not deal with chum, the sharks come with the sound of the boat only!  It is a beautiful boat ride out and fairly quick. If you are lucky you get to see other marine life. When the boat reaches the area they slow and get you ready once the boat stops to jump in right away. The initial jump in is the most incredible because ...
Read more

Hanauma Bay

Image
  Hanauma Bay although an extremely crowded touristy attraction is one of my favorite spots on the island to snorkel. This surprises a lot of people because as someone who lives on the island it is known that islanders tend to stay away from the more touristy attractions. I am generally on board with this but certain parts of the island I cannot ignore like Hanauma Bay.  My love for Hanauma Bay is never experiencing the same snorkel scenario twice. There is an abundance of fish species and the quantities of those species is different each time. I may go and see 2 different eel species one time and no eel species the next. It reminds me of the ol' Forrest Gump saying, "Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get." This is really true each time I go to experience Hanauma Bay. I am such a nerd when it comes to the ocean that I always play a game/educational tactic with myself and that is to spot a fish and identify which species it is. This mak...
Read more