Travel Blog #153 – Whale Watching with Pacific Whale Foundation

Of all the whale watching companies that we deal with on Maui, one of the ones that we get the most requests for is the Pacific Whale Foundation. The reason for this most likely stems from the fact that the Pacific Whale Foundation has really made an effort over the years to be a company that specializes in whale watches. When the whales are not here they repurpose most of their whale watching vessels into snorkel boats that run trips over the the islands of Lanai and Molokini. Today we checked in at the Pacific Whale Foundations store in Lahaina to go on one of their afternoon whale watches.

After checking in we walked over to the harbor to get on the boat. As we got onboard a photographer took a souvenir photo for us (which was available for purchase as soon as we were done with the trip). As we made our way over the gangplank onto the boat the first mate greeted us and informed us about the areas where we could sit. We decided that we wanted to spend some time in the sun so we made our way up onto the upper deck and sat down in some seats along the railing on the right side of the boat.

Within a few minutes we were all loaded on board and the captain ordered the crew to prepare the boat for departure. He then stepped back into the helm station of the boat where he turned on the motors and began to ease the boat out of the harbor and into the open waters of the channel. It seemed like as soon as we got out of the harbor we began to see whales. At first they were off in the distance but within about 5-10 minutes our captain had to actually shut down the motors because the whales had swam so close to the boat.

The various whales that we encountered throughout our trip seemed to be eager to show off for us. We had a baby and its mom come right up next to the boat and swim upside down exposing their while undersides to us. Then in another group we had an escort whale come near the boat and then breach out of the water over and over. By the time we returned to the harbor I think it is safe to say that we had all seen enough whales to be completely satisfied with the trip.