Cruise Humpback Whale Territory

Anyone who climbs aboard a vessel this time of the year and heads for the open ocean off Maui can expect to see

. There are so many of them that most boat companies don’t hesitate to guarantee sightings.

Every year, humpback whales swim 3,000 miles from their summer feeding grounds in Alaska to mate and calve in Hawai‘i’s clear, warm waters. The whales don’t arrive en masse, but researchers say there is a predictable order to their appearance in our waters. Generally,

.

The best views from dry land are usually from Maui’s south and west shores.