Maui Whale Watching Tours

Although we may see dolphins or other rare toothed whales like pseudo orcas, the Northern Pacific humpback whales are our primary focus for our Maui whale watching tours. Northern Pacific humpback whales migrate between Maui and Alaska every year, coming back to Maui to mate and give birth (and maybe for a tropical vacation).

While humpback whales can be seen almost anywhere on Maui, the majority of humpback whales reside along the west coast of Maui, in front of Lahaina Harbor.

Because of the shallow water between Maui and her neighbor island of Lanai, Molokai and Kahoolawe, the Maui Nui Basin became the residing place of choice for the majority of humpback whales migrating to Hawaii. The reef along Maui’s west coast and Lahaina, known as Olowalu is a favorite resting place for moms with calves. The milder weather in Lahaina due to the protected West Maui mountains,also makes it the top place to whale watch from. This is also why the Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary designated these waters a protected place for humpback whales.

From shore you can see whales along the Pali and pull off to watch at the McGregor Point parking lot overlooking Maalaea Harbor. During peak migration months you can watch whales breaching from your balcony if you are staying in Lahaina, Kaanapali or the upper west side of Maui.

For closer whale encounters boat tours take you to search for whales displaying active surface behavior. While we do not approach whales closer than federal regulations, often whales will come to our boats, making for eye-level experience on our low to water rafting style vessels.

Humpback whales migrate from Alaska back to Maui every year to mate, give birth and raise their young. Surface behavior displays communication between males competing for a female in a competition pod, male and females trying to get the attention of the other and mom teaching their young.

Some of the most frequent whale behaviors you will see have moves that have been given names!

Pec Fin Slap

Humpback whales will use their large (sometimes up to 15 feet) pec fins to make noise while slapping the surface of the water. This big splash gets the attention of other whales and of course whale watchers! Often they repeat this move dozens of times! Breach

The famous breach is a fan favorite. Hard to imagine a 40 ton animal propelling itself out of the water in one intense leap, but that’s what breaching is! Swimming up to 18 mph gives the whale enough momentum to breach. Researchers speculate that whales breach to clean themselves and remove things like barnacles. They also believe they breach to communicate, exercise

and just have fun!

Head Lunge

Humpback whales most frequently use head lunges when fighting with other male whales in a competition pod. They will often lunge their heads out of the water to also clean themselves and communicate.

Spy Hop

When a humpback whale sticks it’s nose out of the water it’s called a spy hop. This move allows them to look above the water, often curious whales will do this near the whale watching boat. In that case we wonder who is actually watching who!

Mugging

When a humpback whale decides to approach a vessel within the 100 yard boundaries we refer to this as a mugging. To protect the whale, vessels turn off engines and allow the whale to “mug” the boat, while onlookers get to enjoy this amazing close whale encounter.

While Kohola (whales) have been a part of Hawaiian culture since the beginning as reflected in the chant of creation which tells the story of the birth of the whales in the ocean, they are rarely mentioned in legends and only a few petroglyphs have been found with images of whales. Historians don’t know if this is due to there being fewer whales in Hawaii previously or if they were considered sacred and their information kept secret.

Kohola also refers to a flat reef which can resemble a whale when the waves wash over the reef causing spray similar to a whale spout. An earlier Hawaiian word for whales was palaoa, more specifically referring to sperm whales.

Two of Hawaii’s few whale petroglyphs can be found on Maui and Lanai. The whale depiction on Lanai is located at Palaoa Hill, the other whale drawing can be found in Olowalu, Maui.

When toothed whales washed ashore, their teeth were considered prized possessions and were made into leis for ali’i (royalty). Other items like fish hooks were also made from their teeth.

Whales or Koholoa are also considered ‘aumakua in Hawaiian culture, ancestors that have returned as spirit guides and guardians for their ohana. Entire species were not considered ’aumakua, rather a special encounter with a particular animal may indicate the presence of an ancestor seeking to communicate, comfort or assist their family. The ‘aumakua wouldn’t perma- nently reside within that animal, rather they can possess both inanimal and living things to be there for their family.