Exploring Maui

02/11/2013

Whale Trust - Whale Tales

Whales Tales is happening this weekend! Everything there is to know about whales... ok, well, maybe not everything, but a lot!

http://www.whaletrust.org/education/education_whale_tales.shtml

Whale Quest Kapalua is a free public event that has a little something for everyone - educational seminars presented by leading researchers, natural history photographers, videographers, and writers, as well as a naturalist and interpretation workshop, charity golf tournament, outreach program for M...

01/16/2012

Well, it's on! I'm back on Maui so look for new photos and video starting tomorrow!

AND...

The Humpback Whale Guide iPhone/iPad app should be available in the App Store next week! Exciting times. :-)

12/15/2011

Japan tsunami relief funds go to save -- whaling.

The Japanese are using Tsunami Relief money to support their whaling operations. http://blog.sfgate.com/yaki/2011/12/13/japan-tsunami-relief-funds-go-to-save-whaling/

Here's one petition to show your outrage, please sign it and pass it on:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/japan_disaster_funds_whaling_d?cl=1454003625&v=11617

Japan tsunami relief funds go to save — whaling.

03/15/2011

Another incredible comp pod

Another huge, very active comp pod. It feels a little like you've stuck your head into a Koi pond. Except these Koi are 40 feet long and 40 tons. A lot of times the whales just seem to glide along underwater. Not these guys. There's a lot of activity.
http://vimeo.com/21026901

The season is starting to wind down. You can tell by the size of the comp pods. As more females leave, there are more males chasing fewer females. So the females that are here have larger competitions surrounding them. In this group you can see at least...

03/13/2011

Big, Active Competition Pod

Some great footage of a rather large competition pod. You can see bubble blowing and some other underwater antics. http://vimeo.com/20970746

Great footage of a Humpback Whale competition pod. There's at least 10 whales. Towards the end of the clip you can see one whale blowing bubbles which clearly agitates the whale behind him. See more images and footage on whalewatcher.net

03/04/2011

Whale Trust Publications - Hawaii's Humpbacks, Unveiling the Mysteries, by Jim Darling

Cool page on the Whale Trust site that lets you hear the whale song and shows you the sound spectograph so you can see what the sound looks like. Great information from a great organization...
http://www.whaletrust.org/publications/publications_hawaiis_humpbacks_song.shtml

Hawaii's Humpbacks, Unveiling the Mysteries, by Jim Darling.

03/02/2011

Kauai residents witness humpback whale birth | Exporing Maui Blog

Kauai residents witness humpback whale birth
http://exploringmaui.com/blog/?p=43

LIHUE, Hawaii (AP) — Kauai residents were surprised to witness a humpback whale giving birth at Whalers Cove in Poipu over the weekend.

02/14/2011

Whale Trust - Bridging Marine Research with Marine Education & Conservation

Went out on a 'Whale Tales' whale watch today (benefiting http://www.whaletrust.org). Got a chance to meet and hang out a bit with Flip Nicklin. Very nice guy who happens to have a great book on whales out called: Among Giants: A Life with Whales. Beautiful book with many stories from this National Geographic photographer and storyteller.

Whale Trust supports field research on whales and their marine environment. It founders (Jim Darling, Flip Nicklin and Meagan Jones) utilize results from Whale Trust's research for the basis of a broader program of outreach and education.

02/13/2011

One of those days that's magical for whale watching, but difficult for photographing. Sun was behind the clouds the entire trip... and the whole thing would've been a bust except for the fact that we came upon a whale that must have breached next to the boat about 20 times or more. Literally. It was amazing. Such an excellent day for whale watching.

02/09/2011

Whale Trust - Whale Tales

If you're in Maui on Feb. 12th/13th, you're lucky! You can check Whale Tales (formally Whale Quest), a 2 day event with talks from leading researchers about Humpbacks, kids activities, and whale watches with researchers. Get a chance to meet Dr. Jim Darling, Flip Nicklin, Dr. Dan Salden, and Dr. Meagan Jones and hear about the latest whale research! http://www.whaletrust.org/education/education_whale_tales.shtml

Whale Quest Kapalua is a free public event that has a little something for everyone - educational seminars presented by leading researchers, natural history photographers, videographers, and writers, as well as a naturalist and interpretation workshop, charity golf tournament, outreach program for M

02/09/2011

Scott Mead Photography

Interested in learning whale photography from a pro photographer on Ultimate Whale Watch? Go to www.scottmeadphotography.com

On March 5th, Scott will start this full day event with a discussion on the Humpbacks, the history of whaling in Hawaii, and some of the behaviors you may see. He'll follow with classwork on proper camera settings and setup, techniques and equipment protection when out on the water.

Scott Mead Photography - Fine-art Images of Hawaii and Polynesia

02/08/2011

Google

Go to http://www.google.com/ now. The Jules Verne interactive google graphic is pretty cool. Not sure how long Google will have it up.

01/28/2011

State of Oregon: Oregon Parks & Recreation Dept.: Parks: Whale Watching Spoken Here

If you find yourself in Oregon and would like to see some whales there, check out: http://www.whalespoken.org/

State of Oregon: Oregon Parks & Recreation Dept.: Parks: Whale Watching Spoken Here

01/28/2011

You would think that having gone on many, many whale photography excursions I would have everything dialed in by now. You would be thinking wrongly. One of the MAIN rules of photography is make sure your equipment is working before you leave the house. I get on the boat today and guess what?

01/23/2011

Humpback Mother and Baby

Calf swimming around mom. Really cool to see how they interact. http://vimeo.com/19085013

A little blurry but a nice shot of a mom and baby swimming. Beautiful to see them glide through the water together.

01/22/2011

Incredible whale watching on a small boat

So we had a fairly epic whale watch a couple days ago. Amazing breaches, luminescent spouts in the morning sunlight, beautiful flukes right by the boat... check it all out in this 90 second highlight reel! http://vimeo.com/19073669

All this video was captured by the ExploringMaui.com folks during a recent trip out on Ultimate Whale Watch (ultimatewhalewatch.com). It really shows how amazing it is to be on these small boats when the whales come right up to the boats. The first breach...

01/21/2011

Officials Want Help Rescuing Entangled Whale

NOAA is asking for help finding an entangled whale:
http://www.kitv.com/news/26545164/detail.html

HONOLULU -- Officials want mariners to keep an eye out for an entangled whale in trouble around Kauai. Wednesday, January 19, 2011.

01/20/2011

Exploring Maui

www.exploringmaui.com is now launched! It'll be official tomorrow when the press release goes out. We're slowly adding more content, a lot of it will be free. The stuff for sale had to go up first. :-) Very excited to be at the end of one stage and the beginning of the next!

Whale photography by Jim Tierney