Location: Island of Hawaii
Attraction: Ocean Sports – Wake Up with the Whales
Activities of Choice: Whale Watching, Pool Time, Walk on the Beach
Date: Wednesday, January 22nd, 2020

We woke up early, excited to go explore the Pacific. We had booked a spot with Ocean Sports for a morning cruise with the whales. It was mating season for the humpbacks and we were ready to see them in action.

Whale Watching

It was a gorgeous morning. As we waited for the catamaran to arrive, I hung out under the palm trees, drinking in the sun and waves. Once we were all checked in, the crew got us all on board and we headed out to sea. As we were cruising out, we passed a group of swimmers making their way out during their morning swim. After getting a friendly shaka sign from the lead swimmer, we cruised out to see what we could find.

The first sign that the whales were around was a plume of mist shooting up from the surface of the ocean far off in the distance. We tightened our distance for a better look and were lucky enough to see the whale exhale and dive back down, pushing it’s tale out of the water slightly.

We had similar experiences with other whales around the area and the crew dropped a hydrophone in the water so we could hear all the whales in the area singing to each other. It was actually really beautiful. The crew on the boat was amazingly friendly and knowledgeable. Even though it was the morning cruise, the excursion came with a free open bar and the bartender couldn’t have been more friendly and helpful. I couldn’t resist his kind request to get me a drink and found myself having a few while we basked in the sun and watched these massive, magnificent creatures give us just small glimpses of themselves.

Once our time was about up, we started heading back to the beach and our captain noticed what looked like a large log floating in the water in the distance. As we approached it, the captains suspicions were confirmed. This was a mother whale with a small cafe, only days old. The mother was “logging” or floating on the surface of the ocean, holding its new born baby up to the surface so it could take a break from swimming but could still breathe. At one point, the baby even peaked its little (I use that word loosely) head out of the water to see what we were doing.

We stayed with the mom and calf for a bit and then headed in to end our morning cruise.

Pool Time & Snorkeling

After the drinks on the boat, we decided to head to the local store to pick up a few things for lunch and, of course, some more drinks. We ate a little and headed down to the pool for some pool play and relaxation.

One of the gals in our group brought some snorkeling gear and kindly offered to let us borrow it. We cruised around, face down in the lagoon and saw a bunch of beautiful fish, but no sea turtles or stingrays.

Sunset Walk and Dinner

By this time it was almost dusk, so we got cleaned up and put some shoes on to walk along the beach and catch the sunset. We watched the sun go down over the Pacific, trying to soak it all in, enjoying the moment as much as humanly possible.

Later, we met the rest of our Iowa doTERRA crew for dinner by the lagoon, filling up on pizza before heading to our room for our typical 8:30ish bed time.

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