
When I lived in Juneau and worked on the whale watch boat, we saw these guys every day. There are two groups of Humpbacks that visit Southeast Alaska in the summer. There’s the group that migrates from Baja, and the group that migrates from Hawaii.
I’m Aaron. I have lived in Chicago, Anchorage, and DC. Now I live in Kailua, Hawaii and I do Marine Biology Education. I’m a big nerd who likes whales.
I enjoy satire, talking animals, and cephalopods. I work as a kayak guide in Kailua Bay, on Oahu, and on the weekends I hike, scuba dive, explore, and seek out the island’s marine inhabitants.
The whales are going to start arriving around big island within the next couple of weeks. By December they’ll have made their way here to Oahu.
All this week I’ve been researching what’s needed in order to dive with a humpback whale. The best places off the island to see one, the rules for diving with whales, how you do it, etc.
Whales sometimes get startled by streams of bubbles, because in the water they appear as giant columns, so tanking it is out of the question. It’s gonna be a free dive. As of right now I’m thinking either Hawaii Kai, or Makapu’u. I don’t know how hard this is going to be to find one, but I’m pretty determined to swim with a whale this winter.