Year after year, thousands of humpback whales leave their summer feeding grounds in Alaska and set course for Hawaii. Swimming at a leisurely rate of 3 to 6 mph, some will arrive as early as September and most will have completed the 3,500-mile journey in time for Christmas.
Guided by the sure instinct of migratory habits, these 40-ton titanics of the deep discovered the islands long before jet-propelled world travelers came seeking the warm winter sun. They came to mate, give birth and nurse their young.
There was a time when the North Pacific humpback stock may have numbered 15,000 animals. By 1966, probably due to commercial whaling, the count was estimated at fewer than 1,000. The whales are now considered an endangered species and protected under federal laws. Today, the North Pacific stock is estimated at about 8,000 animals. About 60 percent – at least 5,000 – migrate to Hawaii each year.
Since humpback whales are considered endangered, laws prohibit boats from approaching them. When one is sighted, the captain is required to put his engine in neutral until the whale departs. Some boats carry underwater microphones that carry the sounds of whales. Humpbacks produce a wide array of sounds, including the highest and lowest frequencies that can be heard by the human ear. That sound travels for miles underwater. If you hear it, you'll never forget it.
Humpbacks exhibit a variety of behaviors that should be visible in one form or another from boats and shoreline lookouts. You might see a whale blow. You might see mothers teaching calves to breach, or males competing with one another in head-to-head combat. You could get a look at their lumbering acrobatics or catch a breach, which means the animal has propelled itself out of the water, generally clearing the surface with two-thirds of its body or more.
Humpbacks, by the way, aren't the only game in town. Hawaiian waters are home to year-round residents including Sperm Whales, Pygmy Killer and False Killer whales, Pilot, Beaked and Melon Headed whales.
There are many ways to catch a humpback performance. Book a catamaran, buy a ticket on a Zodiac raft, rent a kayak, take a helicopter tour, find a lookout with a viewscope and signage like the one at the Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge -- or just park yourself on the shore and wait for the next whale to pass by.
