Today we went whale watching on Oahu’s North Shore for Josh’s birthday. It was absolutely amazing. We went out on a catamaran with North Shore Catamaran Charters for about two and a half hours this afternoon. The water was pretty rough in the beginning and there were huge ocean swells, which put Josh in charge of taking pictures and me in charge of not getting seasick. The entire time we were out there, we were surrounded by whales on all sides. It was definitely an experience of a lifetime!

The humpback whales migrate down to Hawaii from Alaska to breed for the winter. A baby  humpback whale weighs between one and two tons when it is born and gains about 100 pounds a day for the first six months of it’s life. It goes through an amazing growth spurt during this time so it can gain strength and body size before the journey back to Alaska. An adult can weigh up to 40 tons and be 45 feet long, with the females being larger than the males. Another interesting fact is that their tails are like their fingerprints. Each one is unique to that whale. Some of the best shots from the day are below. Enjoy!

Whale breaching!

Double breach! There were two of them…super cool!

Back of the whale

Kaena Point – where we hiked last weekend!

Josh and I on the boat!

These two were about 20 yards from us for a few minutes just swimming along. Eventually they decided to deep dive and flashed us their tails.

First of the two deep diving.

Wind farm on the North Shore.

Large ocean swells. They were ridiculous!

Heading back to the harbor.