Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Humpback Whales

A news headline in the current Maui Weekly read: 
The Return of the Whales - They're back!

It turns out that Maui is thee place for these whales during their winters in the South Pacific
They spend summers in Alaska eating tons of krill a day getting fat and then in October/November they start heading south (between 2,500 and 3,500 of them) and the majority of them like it right here off the south coast of Maui. 
Why Maui you might ask? Read a brief page about it here.
They have their babies, hang out and then head back, sometime around May. One interesting note is that they don't eat here - not anything, they live off their thick layer of blubber acquired from feeding up in the cold waters during the winter.
This is new and unexpected news to us and we will be exploring it further with Tracy's parents starting next week when they arrive for a seven day visit. We're booking the whale watch boat today!
Other interesting Maui/whale links:
Pacific Whale Foundation
Whale Trust
I'm hoping to get pictures from the boat.........stay tuned. They guarantee whales to watch, if none are found they give you a free pass to try again. Also, the laws here seem strong and well enforced - "It is unlawful for anyone, without special permission, to come within 300 yards of the humpbacks in the known calving areas and 100 yards in all other areas."
Aloha!