Whale Watching

The winter months bring whales from the North Pacific waters to Hawaii. 

There are an estimated 10,000 or more humpback whales 

who summer, breed, and raise their young in Hawaiian waters.

Gabby took these pics of some of the whales.

These are pictures from a whale watching tour we took while Gabby and Brian were visiting.

We boarded The Star Of Honolulu at the Aloha Tower.

Guaranteed whale spotting or you get another trip free :) 

Hawai‘i is the only state in the United States where humpback whales mate, 

calve, and nurse their young. 

Humpbacks may find Hawai‘i suitable because of the warm waters, 

the underwater visibility, the variety of ocean depths, and the lack of natural predators. 

Mothers can be seen breaching alongside their calves and 

males can be seen competing with one another for females in fierce head-to-head battles. -NOAA

We took the cheap early bird tour, without breakfast :)

Most of my pictures are scenes from the ship, but we did see several whales. 

A mother, her calf, and their escort gave us a show for a while!

It was an amazing sight since I've never seen a whale before.

Honolulu

Diamond Head Crater

In January Ken and I climbed up Makapu'u Lighthouse Trail 

with Maggie and Bill to try to spot some whales. 

We saw a few spouts of water but the whales were just too far away to get a look at.

The scenery was amazing though!

It was so wonderful to rekindle an old friendship with Maggie!

Swimming at Waimea Falls

A place I like to take my guests is Waimea Falls Park. 

It is a beautiful Botanical Garden complete with a waterfall that you can swim under.

I swam here with Maggie and Bill, then came with Gabby.

That's Maggie and me

There's Gabby and some random guy!

As an honorable mention to this post, Gabby & Brian "swam" at Manoa Falls as well. 

This is a an unofficial swim place.

They were the first to step into the very cold water with a few more brave souls to follow. 

Besides a beautiful waterfall, the trail leading to it is lined with luscious plant life.

There wasn't much flowering 

but it was gorgeous all the same. 

I always thought Hawaii was full of waterfalls, but apparently most of them are on the Big Island. 

So, we'll take advantage of enjoying the ones we can find here on Oahu.

Waimea Bay- Surfers Paradise

The North shore of Oahu gets huge waves in the winter months. This year they measured waves as high as 50ft. That's the back side of the wave, the front is usually twice as high!

Many days during the winter the beaches are closed to swimmers, but surfers are always welcome.

Waimea Bay is probably the most popular surfing beach on Oahu; So a must visit for visitors. 

We took Maggie and Bill here in January and Gabby & Brian here in February.

I have a new respect for the ocean waves after seeing so much hazardous surf this winter!

There weren't many surfers but I caught one wiping out :( 

The ocean is amazingly powerful, I wish pictures could describe it to you.

Can't wait to take more friends to the North Shore to see God's beauty!