Watching for the whales

• Lookouts your best viewing option

By Michael Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer

Robert Gregory tries to find whales from his perch at Diamond Head Lookout. Advertiser library photos

When a whale breaches, the sight can be majestic. They can propel themselves out of the water with a few flips of their flukes, or notched tails.

Top 10 spots 1. Halona Blowhole Lookout 2. Makapu Point (Marine Corps Base Hawaii) 3. Makapu'u Point Lighthouse 4. Ka'ena Point — Leeward side 5. Hanauma Bay 6. Shark's Cove/ Pupukea Beach Park 7. Ka'ena Point — North Shore 8. Turtle Bay Resort 9. Lanikai — Wailea Point 10. Makua Cave Source: Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary

"There," Chris says, raising his coffee hand hopefully.

"There where?" Jill asks.

"Nothing," Chris says. "Wave."

So it's gone through the long, blustery morning. Chris, Jill and their son, Jordan, arrived at Halona Blowhole Lookout extra early to beat the expected crowd of fellow whale watchers. That was two hours and two downpours ago.

Aside from their convertible — still wet on the inside from the one minute it took to get the top up — and a reporter's truck, the narrow parking lot is empty. The ocean and its whales are theirs for the watching.

And watching.

Jill lowers her binoculars and squeezes her eyes shut, gray-blind from the bright overcast sky.

"I saw plenty of whales," says Jordan, 7, as he leans over a rock wall and spits a hundred feet down to the rocky plateau bordering the sea.

How many? someone asks.

"A hundred," he answers.

"More like none," Chris says.

The Hollys have done their homework. They know that humpback whales feed in polar waters during the summer and migrate to sub-equatorial spots like Hawai'i in the winter. They know that the number of humpbacks that pass through each season is growing (about 7 percent a year) and the chances of seeing one of the estimated 3,500 seasonal visitors near Hawai'i coastlines are excellent.

Jordan says he knows how many miles humpbacks have to travel to get to Hawai'i.

"Ten thousand," he says. (More like 3,500.)

Jill says she knows one important fact.

"It's a lot cheaper to park your car at a lookout than pay for one of those boat tours," she says.

On a warmer, drier day, the Hollys would almost certainly have more competition for their parking space. As it is, even the whales seem to be keeping a low profile.

After the first shower, the Hollys had packed up their camera and their assortment of telescopic lenses and returned it to the dry safety of the trunk.

"I don't think I could react fast enough if I did see something," Chris says. "Not that I've seen anything."

Tired of throwing rocks at the cliff face across the street, Jordan announces, again, that he's ready to go. But Chris and Jill aren't ready yet. They need to see something. They have a book with pictures. They know what to look for:

Breaching. Fluking. Pec slap. Peduncle slap. Head slap.

Anything.

"There," Jill says.

"What?" Chris says.

"I think I saw a fluke."

"What did it look like?"

"I don't know," Jill says. "A fluke, I think. Maybe."

Their binoculars linger on a empty spot on the ocean's surface.

Maybe isn't good enough. And so they wait.

Lookouts your best viewing option

They're out there.

Of the 5,000 to 8,000 humpbacks that travel the North Pacific, roughly 3,500 pass through Hawaiian waters each winter, according to the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary.

Counting whales is an inexact science. The sanctuary relies on volunteer watchers to help with their counts. Double sightings are unavoidable and adjusted as data is analyzed, said Chris Brammer, project coordinator for the ocean count.

For the first time, the sanctuary is conducting three separate counts, rather than the usual single count. Brammer said results of the counts won't be known until the numbers are adjusted and processed.

For the most intimate views of these mammoth visitors, several businesses statewide, from smaller operations like North Shore Catamaran Charters to larger ones like Navatek Cruises, offer whale-watching tours.

For many, however, the cheapest, easiest way to spot a whale is simply to hang out at a lookout point.

On O'ahu, the high vantage points of the southeast coast make for especially good viewing, though sharp eyes can sight whales from any of a number of spots islandwide, Brammer said.