Maui: Whale Watchin

Hell yes. I saw a couple whales breach today. And I got the sequence of one of them (pictured above) to prove it. Awesome.

And let me tell you, it was breathtaking to see in person. Today was my first-ever time on a boat. Well, a boat that was not called a ferry that took me from Jersey to Manhattan. I’ve been on those many times before. But this was different. Here we took a boat and went out into the Pacific specifically to look for whales.

On my previous two trips to Maui I always talked myself out of doing whale watching tours. Too expensive. Too long. Too likely to never see anything at all.

This time, however, I put away my self-pity and actually found a place called the Pacific Whale Foundation, which is a marine-supporting nonprofit. Right up my alley. I am all about the nonprofit doing good in the world. Plus, it’s better than giving it to a bunch of idiots just trying to make a buck who have no interest in actually delivering a fun and worthwhile experience.

Everyone went along, and lucky for us the boat was less than half full, so we were all able to move about without knocking a little tyke overboard (although there were a couple easy applicants for that honor).

Let me tell you, it was a whale extravaganza today. I have tons of photos to prove it. None of them are all that fantastic, and its mainly because the boat was listing like a roller coaster in the choppy seas, and also because since they are whales, they can’t just stop and talk to you.

By several peoples’ counts, we saw around 60-65 whales today, including four calves. It was stunning. These peaceful creatures just hung alongside the boat, or were in large pods of four or five. One pod we saw toward the end of the trip numbered close to 11, and it was amazing watching them all come up for air in unison.

My words read like child’s play in comparison to what my eyes and memories recall. Even the dolphin that chased alongside the boat as we headed to harbor was just icing on the cake. It was a truly stunning afternoon of watching these things just yards away from your face. 45 feet long, 30 tons in weight and just beautiful to look at. Very little could have made this a more meaningful adventure.