Friday we set sail on a 'three hour tour' looking for humpback whales, hosted by Captain Dan McSweeney out of the Honohokau Harbour just north of Kona.
When we booked the excursion I was a bit apprehensive of being out on the ocean in case it was rough seas, but it turned out I had nothing to worry about. (Although I did take Gravol just before getting on the boat)
My official 'yachting' shoes
Last on and still got the best seat on the boat
As we headed out of the harbour Captain Dan explained what he hoped we'd see on our trip, what to watch for, and then he turned on some cruisin' music and we set out to sea!
About thirty minutes out we had our first sighting of a whale spouting, so we continued traveling towards it and before long we saw several whales coming up out of the water, and then going back under. Amazing sight to see!
The mist in the middle is a whale spouting.
A genuine whale's tail!
Another cool thing we saw was a pod of bottle-nosed dolphins frolicking around the boat amongst about six whales - they came right alongside of us. There were three of them that jumped up out of the water together. The whales would surface and dive back down again very quickly and unexpectedly but Shirley was right on deck taking video and photos as it happened.
Ted anxiously scans the horizon watching for the next whale
And there it is.
Docked back in at the harbour and headed for dry land.
Captain Dan bids us farewell as we disembark.
Catch of the day
We ended up going quite a ways out on the ocean, at one point I was looking around and couldn't see land. Then I realized it was behind us and we'd actually travelled quite a distance catching up to the group of six whales. Throughout the trip we were given great service by the Captain and his crew of two, who were very informative about the whales, and who also served us snacks and beverages. Great voyage!
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