We woke up bright and early to catch our boat for whale watching! We have been seeing whales nonstop from the beaches, driving the coastline, but we wanted to see them up close out on the water!
We ended up getting in on a promotional deal, kids free with adult purchase, which was a score! A sign for the “gods” that this was meant to be, right? Haha I always think great deals are a sign, call me crazy or call me a deal lover whichever! We booked with a company called the QuickSilver for our whale watching excursion, we were told it was great views & more stable boat, great for kids… and for Motion Sickness…aka me!
We saw so many mama’s & their babies. Lots of whale activity which we expected, because we have been seeing that from shore! At the end of our excursion a baby was slapping his fin, waving at our boat, learning all of the things about his body and what he could do. Mama, baby & escort came right close to boat and made their way by, it was the icing on the cake for the day!
A little history, right off the coast of Maui is considered the Humpback whale sanctuary, and where the mama’s come with/to have their babies. They travel 3,000 miles from Alaska to Maui yearly to have babies & teach the babies until they are ready to make the trek up to Alaska waters. Alaska is where the humpbacks get all of their food store up for the year. Humpback whales lose 1/3 of their body weight when down in Maui, as there isn’t a food source here for them. Shallow waters, it provides a safe haven for the mama‘s and their babies. There are no orca whales in Maui, meaning no predators for the young calves. Most females and calves are escorted by a male, it is not the father of the calf, but trying to be the father of the next calf! They call them the Maui Boyfriend, only a 4% chance that the escort will be the father of future calf. The mother chooses her partner & typically waits 2 years to have another baby. Whales are born weighing in at a whopping TON! I can clearly see why it takes mama time to recover & teach her baby & why she waits a couple years to have another! Honestly, I could listen to all of this information over and over, it’s so interesting!
We have learned so much about humpback whales in the short time we have been in Maui, we are all so fascinated. Doing my research prior to our trip I had read that we would be here at the perfect time for seeing humpbacks right from the beach, but we had no idea it would be this constant activity! It has been an amazing experience for both young & old!
After the excursion we grabbed lunch at “Down the Hatcin Lahaina, the best chicken tacos with mango salsa! We checked out a few shops on Front Street right in Lahaina, very touristy but it has a great selection of stores!
We finished the night back at resort grilling with family & a big feast in our room! We found a grocery store that intrigued me and they had great meat selections, awesome watermelons and cantaloupes, it is called Island Grocery Depot. I highly recommend to anyone on West Maui to check it out, if you’re looking for groceries! Very affordable, good selection!
That’s all for now!
XO - KK
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