Big Island Adventures - Whales & Beaches - Day 4

Today we woke up excited for more adventures on the Big Island. We whipped up breakfast burritos before going on a walk around the resort. This has become our morning ritual for the last couple of days. It has been nice to have a few slow mornings and to spend quality time together in such a beautiful place.  

We had a mid-morning whale-watching trip on our schedule today. February in Hawaii is the premier time to go whale watching. Many humpback whales migrate to the warmer waters of Hawaii between November to May and February is the best time to see them. We used a local company named Ocean Sports. We found it on trip advisor. It was a bonus that they were located in the same area as our hotel. We checked in with them at a beach shack located on a beach just a few minutes from our hotel. The beach is Anaehoʻomalu beach and is quite nice. Once everyone had checked in they used a glass-bottom boat to ferry us from the beach to the catamaran. Once we are all aboard we headed out to sea.

The surf was quite high today, so they warned us it could be a bit of a bumpy ride, but it wasn't bad at all. On our way out we caught sight of some surfers taking advantage of the huge waves - that was awesome. 

As soon as we left the bay we spotted whales. It was unreal - we exited into the open ocean and spotted our first couple of whales a few hundred yards away. We headed in that direction and then stopped the boat once we were close. We waited patiently in this area and we were rewarded with multiple whale sightings. We saw so many whales. We saw baby whales, momma whales, multiple whales hanging out together, many whale flukes, and even a few whales breaching in the distance. The crew was great and informative. The boat was also equipped with a hydrophone. When we were sitting and watching a group of whales they lowered the hydrophone so we could hear the whale songs - it was so cool and something I haven't experienced on any other whale watching trip. It really elevated the experience. The tour was also educational. We learned many interesting facts about humpback whales. We spent a couple of very successful hours chasing whales around the bay.

A nice whale fluke

I liked how you can see the two separate spouts from the blowhole. The blowhole is like a nose in that it is comprised of two distinct holes. 

A very large whale

A mommy and a baby whale, both are spouting 

In this photo, you can see both holes in the blowhole 

Here the baby whale is right on top of the momma whale and its tail was lifted out of the water

The large fluke of the momma whale

By the time we were done whale watching the wind was really picking up and the waves were huge. We had some nice views of the waves on the way back into the bay. Once we were back at the beach we decided we wanted to hang out there for the rest of the day. We ran back to our hotel to get our beach stuff and pick up some lunch before returning to the beach. 

After we grabbed our beach gear we headed to Anaehoʻomalu beach and we were ready to spend the rest of the day there. It is a beautiful sandy beach with palm trees and gentle waves. It is picture-perfect. On our way back to the beach we picked up some acai bowls for lunch - they hit the spot. We rented a cabana for the afternoon. It was a pretty perfect beach day. Alison and I both read our books and spent some time cooling off in the ocean. I also flew my drone and got some great shots. 

The catamaran we took whale watching

At 5pm they closed up shop and took down the cabana. We relocated to a nearby lookout to watch the sunset - Anaehoomalu Point. This is a rocky lookout with tons of angry water. Alison loves to watch angry water. The huge waves crashed against the rocks and made for an ideal spot to watch the sunset. It was a beautiful sunset. 

After the sunset, we wanted to get some takeout. That is hard to do in this area. We thought there was a Hawaiin BBQ place nearby, but it doesn't seem to have survived Covid. There aren't many places that serve takeout in this area. We ended up going to the nearby grocery store and ordering food from the deli. As far as delis go this one was impressive. We took our food back to our room and ate it while watching the Olympics. All in all, it was another great day in Hawaii.