Photos in this gallery are grouped by the different types of whale behavior. All of the images are from whale-watching cruises with the Pacific Whale Foundation that sailed out of Ma'alaea Harbor on the Island of Maui. Each year I go on about 40 cruises on the waters of Ma'alaea Bay and the Kealaikahiki Channel between Maui and the Island of Kaho'olawe.
An "Odd Pod" of Humpback Whales (Megaptera novaeangliae), Ma'alaea Bay, South Maui. In addition to the large mature female in the foreground, a smaller escorting adult in the middle of the pod, and a calf to the left of that whale, this pod includes a Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus, indicated by yellow arrow) that stuck around for the better part of an hour, apparently "playing" with the young calf. This is not unusual behavior for Maui's permanent population of dolphins. Molokini Island looms on the horizon.
April 18, 2010.
April 18, 2010.
An "Odd Pod" of Humpback Whales (Megaptera novaeangliae), Ma'alaea Bay, South Maui. In addition to the large mature female in the foreground, a smaller escorting adult in the middle of the pod, and a calf to the left of that whale, this pod includes a Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus, indicated by yellow arrow) that stuck around for the better part of an hour, apparently "playing" with the young calf. This is not unusual behavior for Maui's permanent population of dolphins. Molokini Island looms on the horizon.
April 18, 2010.
April 18, 2010.
Original size: 1056x662 |
Current: 800x502 |
Keywords: whale humpback whales whalewatching breaching baleen megaptera cetaceans flukeslapping whale watching humpback whales balaenopteridae megaptera novaeangliae rorqual maui whales marine mammals tailslapping baleen whales spyhopping lobtailing mysticeti whale behavior ma'alaea bay whale watching in hawaii whale watchcing whales and dolphins whale biology pectoral slapping hawaiian islands humpback whale marine sanctuary whale migration megaptera novaeangliae borowski