Whale watching

[ray5911]

HI, we will be on the POH on Feb 12. We are wondering where, and with which operator, we should go for seeing some humpback whales.

All help is appreciated..!!

Ray

[sceneisle]

Try the Pacific Whale Foundation in Lahaina, Maui. PWF, a leader in education and research of the whales, offer dozens (daily) of very reasonably priced whale-watching tours. Check out their web-site. Aloha.

[cruisindarryl]

Before we went on our Hawaii cruise in 05 I tried to find a whale watching boat that would take me, my senior parents and my sister who is a quadreplegic. I couldn't find anyone that seemed to be accessible.

I did find out though that lahaina was a good port to go out of.

Well, when we got off the tender there were dozens of little booths where you could sign up for a tour that day! So we signed up for one, went had breakfast at an open air restaraunt right across the street on the corner (great macadamia pancakes covered with pineapple syrup!) and then got on the boat for a great tour, wheel chair and all.

Not that you need an accessible tour but no need to worry about finding something before you cruise cause there were dozens of operators right on the pier.

Have fun!

=CD=
p.s. I've tried to attach a pic of us on the boat

[BigE11378]

we are going back in oct 2008 (we were there in oct 2005) so thanks for the info. by the way the atlantis submarine tours are great (we saw sharks and sea turtles)

[frankyP4lover]

I'd stay away from the Pacific Whale Foundation. Oddly enough, two of the dozen times we've been out, we've noticed some unsafe behavior from them. One of those times, they pulled up right in front of our boat to see the whales. They came in full speed right up to the whales. They clearly were not observing the laws of how close you can be to a whale with your boat running. They've also struck and killed a couple whales this last year.

Stick to the lesser known mellower boats. You'll see whales, without question. I usually go on the Quicksilver because of the price, and the roomy boat. I hate being cramped on a small boat. I also have been on a Maui Ocean Rafting tour that was unreal! It's small, yes, but a small group and you're close to the water. We were forced to stop our motors because the whales came to us!! It was incredible. We were only 5-10 feet from a baby humpback.

[Emma'sNana]

I am taking POAmerica in December. I guess I thought we would be able to see the whale from the balcony. Do you really need to go on an excursion if you want to see them?