Whale Watching on Maui

My favorite activity on Maui is whale watching!  I can't get enough of the whales when we're there.  When we're in view of the ocean I keep an eye out for whales.  I like sitting on top of a cliff with binoculars and watching for spouts and breaching whales.  And most of all, I like going out on a boat to see the whales up close.  

The humpbacks are protected and boats are not allowed to get closer than 100 yards away from them, but for an animal so big that seems quite close.  Plus, if the boat is turned off and the whales choose to come closer that is fine so sometimes you see them even closer.

Whenever we visit Maui in the winter we book a morning whale watching cruise.  Before kids, we went on the first boat out at 6:45 AM.  With kids, a boat leaving around 9 works better.

I don't think there are many places in the world where your whale watch tour passes by not only the first, but the second whales you see because they're not quite in the area of the ocean where they want to be, but that's how our tour started out this time.  

The captain liked where we were the third time whales were spotted and we stopped to watch a female humpback and her calf.  The calf breached completely out of the water three or four times while we watched them.  After the first and second jumps our boy excitedly told my husband, "Dad, I ALMOST saw that!"  My husband kept telling him to just keep watching and finally on the third breach our easily distracted boy said, "Dad, I saw that!  I wasn't looking at my shoe!"  

After watching those whales for 30 minutes or so we headed on in search of more.  We found a group of three that they thought were a male, female and calf.  They were all active and we got to see lots of tails in the air, pectoral slaps, and some partial breaches.  I tried to take pictures but after getting a few nice pictures of splashes like this I gave up.  

I need a faster camera and fewer kids to keep track of to really capture the whales, but putting away the camera and just enjoying the show was really great.  Words can't do the whales on Maui justice, so plan a trip to Maui sometime and see them for yourself!

Do it yourself on Maui:

• Whales are in the Hawaiian waters from December to May, but their numbers are highest from January to April.

• Many companies offer whale tours.  We have always gone with the Pacific Whale Foundation and I highly recommend them.  Their staff are very knowledgeable about the whales and will teach you a lot!  Kids 6 and under are free on their cruises and are treated very well!  They remind everyone to let children up to the railing so they can see, they have models and pictures of whales for kids to see and hold and sometimes they have coloring books and other activities for the kids too.

• The whales are close enough that even our 21 month old girl could get into watching them, but after awhile they're ready to do something else.  Snacks are our trick for keeping our kids happy for the two hour tour.  

• You cannot pick up or carry children in your arms when you walk around the boat, even infants, so take some kind of a carrier that allows your hands to be free if you have a child who will want to be carried a lot.

'Thar be pirates in the land. Arrrr!!

I have one more post to write about our trip to Maui, but preparing for a certain boy's pirate themed birthday party has been front and center on my schedule, leaving little time for blogging.  We're getting to the final countdown to the party though, so I'll be back here soon to share my all-time FAVORITE thing from Maui.

In the meantime, happy weekend to you!

Ono Gelato Company on Maui

In Hawaiian 'ono' means delicious, and the gelato we found at Ono Gelato Company definitely lived up to its name!  We liked it so much on Saturday night that we paid them a visit again on Sunday.

It is a cute little shop and the people working there seemed to actually enjoy their job as evidenced by the cheerful, friendly service we received.  How amazing is that - great customer service AND a great product!

My only complaint would be that they have too many yummy flavors to choose from.  Lots of tropical flavors and lots of other flavors too.  Guess we'll have to go back (multiple times of course) on our next trip to Maui!


Do it yourself:

• They have keiki (children's) sizes, hooray!  They advertise a keiki cup, but if you ask they'll do it on a cone too.
• We went to their store on Front Street in Lahaina.  According to their website they also have a store in Paia.

Maui Ocean Center

Rainy weather nixed our plans for a hike on Saturday and we went to the Maui aquarium instead. I was afraid everyone else on the island might have the same idea but thankfully they didn't. There were quite a few people there but it wasn't overly crowded.

We enjoyed the tanks and displays in the first building and I decided garden eels have to be one of the weirdest creatures. They're like a sci-fi cross between a plant and an animal. My husband pointed out shrimp that had a number of little pinchers that all seemed to work like arms and we contemplated what it would be like to have six hands to use to put food into your mouth.

Between rain showers we headed outside to see the hammerhead shark tank and the touch pool, which our boy called the petting zoo. It seems many touch pools mainly have rocks and shells on display, but amazingly they had actual sea creatures (star fish, sea cucumbers and a couple other things) in theirs. Our boy loved it, our girl was curious about it all but afraid to actually touch anything.
The second building had fewer small aquariums and more hands-on and interactive displays, including a large section about Humpback whales. The tunnel through the biggest tank was a peaceful place to sit and watch the fish.

We ended our visit with some time at the turtle lagoon where we got to see the turtles enjoy a meal of lettuce. The aquarium was a little pricey but by the time we left I felt we had gotten our money's worth and I was glad we'd visited!

Do it yourself:

• This aquarium is very nicely done. They have a wide variety of creatures on display and the set-up is very kid friendly with steps for the kids to climb on to see into many of the aquariums and quite a few hands-on activities for them to enjoy.

• Only one discounted ticket allowed per local or military ID, so if that applies to you, make sure everyone in your group takes their ID.

• There is a little cafe and a restaurant inside the ocean center but we didn't eat there so I can't offer any specific recommendations.

• Visit their official website for more information.


Thank you to Delicious Baby for hosting Photo Friday!  Check it out to see travel photos from around the globe.