There Be Whales Here!

Wintertime in Hawaii means that whales are nearby! Neither of us has ever seen whales before, and it is an absolute delight to watch them from our deck. These humpback whales are close enough to clearly see, but binoculars help a little. They usually give a heads-up before they lunge out of the ocean by gushing water straight up from their blowholes. They seem to do two main things: Jump out and back in the water, or extend their flippers and (seemingly) wave at us then smack down on the water surface as if to make the biggest splash possible. They also do this with their tails.


We've all seen video footage of whales before, but seeing it live is incomparable. We observed that it really does seem to be played out in slow motion. Those video clips are in real time after all!

One early-morning sighting was especially memorable: a single whale was raising and lowering its flippers excessively as it came closer and closer to the beach. We joined a growing crowd as we watched with joy (and a little concern that the whale was going to beach itself). Then there was speculation that "she" was giving birth. But the whale just as gradually went back out to the ocean. We'll never know why we got such a show, but we'll never forget it.

Image Courtesy of AmericaTsures by Codor