There was such a good reception for my "Whale Watching in Alaska' post that I thought I should follow it up with this one.
During the winter months of November thru April, humpback whales migrate over 3,000 miles from the frigid waters of Alaska to the tropical paradise of Hawaii. It is pretty incredible when you realize that there is no food for the whales here. They leave that all behind in Alaska, and trade it for the calm, warm, shallow waters around Maui in order to breed and to have their newborn calves.
If you come to Hawaii in the winter, and you are very lucky, you might get to see a brand new baby humpback whale learning different surface behaviors from its mom. You may get to see competition pods...where many males fight over one female. And as always with Humpbacks, you may get to see one launch its 80,000lbs body completely out of the water.
Here are some of my favorites from my whale watching in Hawaii.
Look who was hiding just under my kayak. A newborn baby, about the size of a small pickup truck, and its very proud mama keep their eyes on me in the crystal clear waters.
Baby stays close to mom in this underwater shot, while an unrelated male escort tries his luck at becoming the father of next years calf.
There is something about the wind that must feel good on the skin of the whales. I see them breaching quite often on these windy days. The whitecaps also add some dynamic energy to photos like this.
The bumps on the head of this spyhopping whale are called tubercles. The white patches are where barnacles had attached in Alaska and then fallen off in the nutrient poor waters of Hawaii.
Even the babies breach! Not quite as graceful as the adults, we sometimes refer to them as 'flying pickles.'
One of my favorite shots and the only topside shot with a wide angle lens. This whale was very close to our boat, waving its 15ft long pectoral fin in the air. The wide angle lens allowed me to capture more of the location, with the wind farm above the pali cliffs on Maui.
You have to either be very lucky, or really put your time in to get a full frame, sharp detailed shot of a breaching humpback whale. You just never know when it will happen, or where they will break the surface. The volcanic cone in the background in Molokini crater.
This was a very unusual breach. Usually the whale does a 180 spin to land on its back. This one did a complete 360...coming right at me.
This whale was doing an underwater headstand, sticking its tail high up out of the water.
A very low angle allowed me to get this beautiful whale tail with the expedition ship I work on in the background. I always try to get as low an angle as possible for photographing whales.
I hope you enjoyed all the shots. A lot of effort, time, and patience went in to getting them. Again, the reward is worth the challenge!
-Dai Mar
