Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Hawaii - Day Two

Brace yourself. Lots of photos in this post. Possibly too many...

Cruise day!! One of our splurges:
Whale-watching cruise aboard the Atlantis Navetek
The winter months mark the start of the whale watch season in Hawaii, when 3,000-5,000 majestic North Pacific humpback whales leave their summer home in icy Alaskan waters and migrate 3,000 miles to warm Hawaiian waters.

Our cruise included a nice lunch buffet: chicken, fish filets, steamed rice, garlic mashed potatoes, veggies, salad and bread…and dessert that I wouldn’t eat (something covered in coconut). It was a tasty little lunch…interrupted…

Guide: “There’s a blow!!”

That’s how you spot a whale. They come up for air and ‘blow’. It was quite a windy day; you could miss a blow because the wind would break it up.
The boat crew urged us all to not run to one side of the boat…you can imagine what would happen if a couple hundred people suddenly end up on one side of the boat. I had no desire to go for a swim – evidently everyone else felt the same , so we were patient for them to turn the boat toward each blow.



We had a pod of whales on each side of the boat…maybe 5 whales total. They came up at different times and there was sometimes 10 – 15 minutes between their surfacing.

What you see is a blow, a dive (their back) and the fluke (their tail). With nearly every blow, you could see a dive and fluke follow. It was really neat to be on the look-out…especially for something you’ve never looked out for before.

When is it not amazing to witness one of God’s giant creatures in action??

<----- View of Diamond Head from our cruise! After the cruise, we headed out on our second scenic drive…looking for a place called Hanauma Bay. We’re nearly positive we had the right place…and it was breathtaking!! I will leave it to the pictures. Simply amazing…






5 comments:

ToolSmartz said...

Nice... did they spew on ya'll?

Anonymous said...

ahhhh...ready to go back.
anxiously awaiting day 3 recap...

Kellan said...

You are such a great tour guide - beautiful pictures and I love to see whales and dolphins! Really great trip and I love seeing all of your pictues. See you later. Kellan

Erin said...

Looks like yall are having a good time...Thanks for commenting on my blog. I can always count on fellow bloggers. Just a little tidbit, the town my parents live in Mississippi (on the coast) is called Diamondhead after the volcano and all the street names are hawaiian...And your little ones are precious as well!

Fresh Girl said...

Stunning photos!! I have a friend who would be so envious of your whale-watching... she LOVES them.