Season's first humpbacks seen
By Timothy Hurley
Advertiser Maui County Bureau
HONOKOWAI, Maui — Earl Smith knows it's a little early in the season for humpback whales and so, naturally, he hesitated yesterday morning when his wife, Maureen O'Hara, excitedly called him to the lanai of their eighth-floor oceanside condominium.
Advertiser library photo • Nov. 17, 2002
"I thought she was seeing things," said Smith, a general contractor who has lived in Hawai'i for 45 years.
The first humpback whales, usually juveniles, arrive in Hawai'i between September and early November.
But that wasn't the case. He took the binoculars and saw them with his own eyes: three young whales frolicking beyond the reef 200 feet or so offshore.
"For us it is so exciting to have a treasure of nature so close," Smith said.
The Pacific Whale Foundation said the whales were the first reported in Hawai'i this season, and officials with the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary also said no other sightings have been reported so far.
Hawai'i is the winter home for the North Pacific population of humpback whales. The peak activity here takes place between December and April, when the protected marine mammals socialize, mate and give birth before heading back to their Alaskan feeding grounds.
The first whales, usually juveniles, arrive between September and early November, followed by several weeks of sporadic sightings.
