Every year in the late fall, thousands of humpback whales make the 2,000 mile journey from the coast of Alaska to the shores of Hawaii where they devote most of their time to mating, giving birth to their calves and nursing. The waters off Alaska are full of small krill which are the main source of a humpback whales diet. During the summer months, humpback whales load up on krill and store up on fat reserves that will then allow them to make their incredible journey to the tropical waters of Hawaii during the winter months. Hawaiian waters contain very little nutrients so the whales must rely on their fat stores the entire time they are down here. The best times for seeing whales in Hawaii are during the months of December through April, so on this beautiful day in late January we grabbed our beach towels and binoculars and headed out the east side of the island, where you are more likely to see the humpback whales, and we weren't disappointed.
As soon as we pulled into the parking lot I spotted a large whale mid-jump (also known as a breech) and the large splash that accompanied it. We headed down to the beach to set up our looking grounds and saw dozens of spouts going off just past the lighthouse. Unfortunately, the whales were too far out to get a picture of them, but they were just over Justin's shoulder in the picture below.
I didn't take the picture of the whale shown above, but this is what they look like when they breech. Luckily we had our pair of binoculars and could clearly see every spout and tail or fin slap from the pod of whales. We then went out in the water to play in the waves and to hear the whales singing under water. The waves were pretty big that day and there were "strong current" signs all over the beach so we didn't stay and play too long, but caught a baby bump picture on our way out. This is me at around 23 weeks pregnant.
No comments:
Post a Comment