It is Whale Season! (December 15 – May 15)
It is that wonderful time again. Humpback whales are making their annual visit to Hawaii. Humpbacks start their migration from the Gulf of Alaska in early fall. There are different migration routes, one group travels to Baja, Mexico, another group travels to islands south east of Japan and the largest group travels to Hawaii.
Humpbacks spend their summers in the waters off Alaska to feed. The cold waters are rich in krill which they eat. Humpbacks spend their winters in warm tropical waters in Hawaii to mate and calve.
The trip to Hawaii takes about 4-8 weeks to complete and is a distance of 3,500 miles from Alaska. Most of the whales that travel to Hawaii will end up in the waters off Maui. Younger whales usually arrive first, followed by adult males and females and then pregnant females.
Best way to see Humpback Whales when on Maui:
- A whale watching cruise
- From your condo
We recommend taking a whale watching cruise when visiting Maui during whale season. We recommend the Pacific Whale Foundation's cruises although there are many boats to choose from.
You can also see whales breaching and spouting from ocean view condos during whale season, however nothing comes close to seeing them up close on a whale watch cruise.
Humpback Whale Facts:
- Adults are 40-50 feet long and weigh 25-40 tons.
- Humpback whales can throw themselves completely out of the water, this is called breaching.
- Humpbacks feed mostly in summer and live off fat reserves in the winter with occasional opportunistic feeding in the winter.
- Humpbacks eat krill, small shrimp like crustaceans.
- When feeding each whale eats up to 1 and 1/2 tons of food a day.
- Females bear a calf about every 1-3 years, gestation is 11-12 months.
- A Humpback whale calf is between 10-15 feet long at birth and can weigh up to 1 ton.
- A calf will drink its mothers milk until it is about a year old.
- Humpback whales live 45-50 years.
