February 23, 2007 Kaanapali

Today was a day off from the tour, but we booked our own whale watch tour. We were up by 8, but got a slow and relaxing start to the day. By the time we got down for breakfast, there was a line-up that slowed us down some more. By the time we were done, we just had time to get ready for our 11 a.m. pick up.

Nearing the harbour, someone spotted whales from the bus. Sure enough, you could see two whale tales sticking out of the water and splashing as they “stood on their heads.” It seemed like an auspicious beginning.

At the wharf, a naturalist gave us a short talk before we boarded the two hour excursion at 12:30. Within ten minutes we had whales in sight and we saw whales continuously until we neared the harbour on our return. We saw several dives where they showed their tales, a few breaches where they propel their whole bodies out of the water creating a huge splash (two of them fairly close to our boat), a behaviour where they lie on their side and slap the water with their pectoral fins, and a bunch of activity that the naturalist described as mating activity as two or three males jostled each other while they followed a female and calf.

Although much of this activity took place under water, where all we could see was their backs, and the camera shutter was too slow to catch much of the other activity, it was quite exciting and interesting anyway. On the way back to the port, one of the volunteers said that, on a scale of one to ten, our cruise was a 25. When the naturalist addressed us, she rated it a 15 on the same scale, so we felt pretty lucky.

We returned to the hotel at 3:30 and prepared to meet our group at 5 for admission to the Luau on the hotel grounds. It included entertainment, a buffet that included a traditionally roasted pig, and an open bar. It was a good evening, but I wasn’t really blown away by anything.