A couple weekends ago, Jarrod and I did one of the most fun activities of our time on Oahu so far: a whale-watching cruise to see the humpback whales that inhabit Hawaiian waters from December to March. We got up bright and early to do the Early Bird cruise on the Star of Honolulu. The weather was fantastic and I guess the humpbacks agreed because they were out in full force. We saw three different pods, one of which was only 100 yards from the boat (which I believe is the closest a boat can legally get to a whale).We were so lucky to see the whales breach several times, as well as do a bit of a mating ritual involving splashing their flippers and tails on top of the water. The naturalist on board told us breaches are usually seen a couple times a week, but it's rare to see so many breaches in a row. The naturalist also explained to us how absolutely massive humpbacks are. They weigh about 1 ton for every foot in length; the average humpback is 45 feet long so that means it weighs 45 tons!
Diamond Head and Waikiki from the whale-watching boat. This is about the farthest we got from shore; really not that far at all.
A "plume" coming from a whale's blowhole.
This is one of my favorite pictures from the day. I wish I had shot the photo just a split second later, when the tail was straight up in the air.
Jarrod and I had an absolutely fantastic time on the two-hour whale-watching excursion and would definitely recommend it, although I think we were especially lucky to see so much activity. So we've now seen sea turtles and whales; next up are dolphins and monk seals!
I posted two videos from the day on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcw08axm2BQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MqM5kgoU9E
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