- Whales migrate from Alaska to mate and give birth in the warm Hawaiian waters.
- They spend roughly 5 months in Hawaii starting in December and leave in April.
- It takes around a month for the whales to travel from Alaska to Hawaii and another month to return. They travel around 100 miles per day.
- Pregnant whales will give birth during the first two months in Hawaii so their young can grow before the long, arduous return trip to Alaska.
- There is no food source for whales in Hawaii. Newborn whales will exist solely on their mother's milk and will gain around 100lbs. per day.
- A female whale weighs around 90,000lbs when fully grown. She will lose around 30,000lbs while feeding her newborn.
- Humpback whales have no teeth and will choke on objects larger than a grapefruit.
- Their eye is around the size of a large orange; their lungs are the size of a stretch limosine and their bodies are roughly the size of a tractor trailer.
- Whales breathe out of their nostril(s) which are located on the top of their head.
- A whale exhales roughly 90% of the air in their lungs which blows water high into the air. (Compared to a human which only exhales about 15% of the air in our lungs)
- Female Humpback whales are larger than males by nearly 20%.
- A mother whale will return to Hawaii when the young whale is just over a year old and that is the last a baby whale see of his/her mother.
We finally come upon a mother whale and her newborn calf in the water and follow them for the better part of an hour. They rise up and out of the water very rhythmically, blowing water through their spouts. We follow them for about an hour and a half before returning to shore. That was amazing and what a learning experience.
We stroll back to a few shops where Hudson's purchases some shoes and a tank top before returning to the condo. Back at the condo, we are treated to an "Aloha Party" by the pool. We are greeted with a fresh flower lei and a sampling of local style food. We are also treated to a "keiki halau" or hula instructor who has young hula dancers perform the history of hula as told through song and dance. It is really amazing and another learning experience. We are told about the history of hula and the monarchy that ruled the Hawaiian Islands for 8 generations beginning with King Kamehameha the great. He united the islands under a single ruler. The last monarch of Hawaii was a Queen, who assumed the throne in 1891 as the U.S. was beginning to annex the islands. Queen Liliuokalani traveled to Washington to meet with the President to ask that the Hawaiian Islands remain independent. While she was away, her people were very sad and created new Hula's in her name. She ruled until 1893 when the U.S. took over the government of Hawaii. We also learned a bit of Hawaiian language from her. There are 5 vowels and 7 consonants that make up the language. Vowels are a,e,i,o,u and Consonants are H, K, L, M, N, P, W and then a host of grammatical marks that change the way words are pronounced. Here is a little Hawaiian vocabulary:
- Wahine = woman
- Kane = man
- Wikiwiki = hurry up
- Mahalo = thank you
- Aloha = hello, goodbye
- Ohana = family
- Pupu = appetizer, snack
- Paniolo = Hawaiian cowboy
- Kona = leeward side of the island
- Hale = house
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