Whale Gallery





		*(click on any picture to see an enlarged version)*


	THERE'S NOTHING QUITE SO MAGNIFICENT AS A KONA SKY in the morning. Brilliant blue, almost azure, it pulls you into its magic. Before us in the distance, looms the massive presence of Hualalai, ever constant, stunningly beautiful. A dotting of fluffy white clouds dances atop her crown. The soft golden glow of the sun rising up behind her has eclipsed into a bright glowing ball warming its inhabitants below. A feeling of enchantment fills the air. Her magnificent presence takes my breath away and makes me feel as if I have truly seen the face of God. For a good ten minutes all Clint and I can say is, "Wow!"


	I shiver, perhaps sensing this grand encounter with the Great Mother symbolizes the illumination and transformation that my life, as I know it, will soon forever be changed. Ahhh . . . The three of us sit floating peacefully in Ka'i Kai. All that I can hear is the light licking of the waves against the hull. An incredible array of colors, sights, and smells all around us—an all-we-can-eat brunch Mother Nature has lovingly prepared for our ravenous senses this morning.We laugh like little kids, imagining that the sky is not really the sky, but another huge ocean and we but tiny powerless plankton-like beings drifting around within the currents in its bosomy depths. Closing my eyes into a yummy peacefulness, my mind is transported back into a time not so tranquil in these islands, a time where violence and bloodshed had transpired here only two hundred years ago; cannons blasting, guns booming, spears savagely hurled, soldiers and warriors crying out in pain and agony. Capt. James Cook and his ships the Resolution and Discoverer had entered the sheltered waters of Kealakekua Bay during the height of the Makahiki Festival which is a celebration honoring the fertility god, Lono. Thinking Cook might be Lono himself, the Hawai'ians welcomed him with open arms, and honored him with a great feast. A few weeks after the initial warm aloha, the cultural differences between the Europeans and the Hawai'ians began to take their toll.




		*Baby whale breaching*


	Seaman William Watman died during this period, convincing the Hawai'ians that the haoles, foreigners, were not immortal after all. The Europeans inadvertently broke kapus, laws, and petty theft began to increase dramatically. The Hawai'ians generously refilled the ships empty coffers before the ships sailed on February 4th, only to have the ships come back a week later after a severe storm damaged one of the masts. This time the Hawai'ians were quite hostile and hurled rocks at the sailors. As tempers flared, muskets were loaded. After a small cutter from the Discovery was stolen, Cook finally became furious and went ashore. Bullets, flew, spears were thrown, Hawai'ians and sailors were injured and killed. Cook, unable to swim to safety, was surrounded and killed.


	Momentarily lost in this raw vita, Veto and Clint's hushed voices bring me back to the present, and as I cast my eyes onto the soft turquoise waters, it seems impossible that such frenzy and rage could have ever existed in this beautiful paradise. Thankfully it is a violent time no longer. Here and now I can only experience tranquility. And then my heart nearly stops beating. Within forty yards of us, we see the tiniest of movements, a glisten of a tiny pectoral fin see-sawing to-and-fro upon the surface of the water. As we watch the flailing of its little 'arms', we realize we are in the presence of a baby humpback, perhaps only hours or even minutes old. Rolling and lilting in the gentle waves, it appears clumsy and out of its element (to our human eyes anyway). Just below the surface of the water we can barely make out the oh-so-white long wing-like pectoral fin of its mother, as she tenderly holds him upon the flat sea where he can draw in his first inspirations of life-giving oxygen. His first breath. We laugh as he sends up a baby spout of spray.What is it that moves me so? It's as if the three of us are the invited guests of a most sacred and intimate of planetary events that few people have ever witnessed, inspiring a sense of timelessness and great honor.


	The mother now has surfaced, positioning herself behind her calf, propelling it in wide circles with her rostrum. His body and pectoral fins are still teeter-tottering back-and-forth, but he seems more steady than he had before. Slowly, the little fella summoned his courage. "I can do this by myself," he seems to imply as he motor-boats away from mom. She doesn't appear to pay any attention to our presence. However, we are prepared to move further away if she displays any anxious behaviors. When 'baby' ventures too near our boat, mom immediately positions her body protectively between her calf and us, prodding him away with her body and rostrum. We happily watch his novice whale antics for an hour or so when at last he and mom plunge beneath the surface. "What next?" we all think out loud. "Where did he go?" We wait patiently.Only a minute or two elapses when suddenly here comes mom exploding her massive tonnage out of the water. As her huge body crashes downward, the watery foam displaces in a turbulent huge wake around her. Nothing gets the heart pounding faster than witnessing a one hundred thousand pound mammal propel itself out of the water, twist in midair, clearing the surface with nearly two thirds of its body or more, and then land perfectly on its back, creating a mammoth wake of water. And then comes baby, mimicking his mother, leaping and lifting his majestic brand new whale body upwards towards the blue sky! This infant being of the ocean is my teacher today, imparting to me an unforgettable lesson—from drawing his first breath, from dependency and struggle, he evolved quickly and effortlessly to a right relationship with his awesome incredible power. So knowing of his right to exist. Would I ever be so sure of that power for myself? Within myself?




	*Baby whale splashing down*


	Next we are captivated for thirty minutes or so by what appear to be three hormonally charged males vying for the attention of one lone beautiful female. It is believed whales' high energy activities serve a number of social functions. On this particular morning, these guys display pec slaps, head raises and head slaps, and breathtaking breaches. These extremely energetic males show off every behavior in their whale behavior repertoire to impress and entice this lovely female. Who finally ended up her with is anyone's guess, but it is a spectacular show for the three of us. Click-click-click goes my camera as I capture this once-in-a-lifetime moment. We had shot mountains of photos last year, and we're anxious to compare photos this year to see if we might reidentify any of last year's whales. I have found that this is not an easy feat at all. To photo ID a whale takes a great camera and lens, incredible patience, and most of all, cooperative whales who would present to us their full flukes. But this a perfect whale day and meant to be. In spite of my unskilled amateur relationship with my Canon, its great lens and sports action button show me the way, capturing the entire repertoire of myriad acrobatic splashings and spoutings before they all move on to new adventures. Ten minutes later, Clint begins to shout frantically, "Over there. Quick! I just saw a tail!" Excitedly, Veto and I spin around to follow the direction of his pointing finger. Whatever he had seen was no longer there. Sometimes in our excitement and desire to see whales, the movements of the white caps create an illusion of a whale breaking through the water. Veto asks if that is what he may have actually seen, a whitecap. "No, no, I know the difference between water and whales. It was a whale's tale I saw," he insists.Veto glances at his watch, "Well, if it is a whale and he took a dive, we can expect him to show up again in about fifteen minutes, give or take a few." We all take our seats again, scanning the water, waiting, our eyes fixed towards where Clint had seen his whale. As with all animals, whale behavior is not predictable. Sometimes they stay around. Sometimes they dive deeper. Sometimes we just don't know where they go. So we wait. Fifteen minutes later, Veto starts the engine once again, and begins to nose Ka' i Kai north. As I turn to look at her track-like wake, from out of its turbulent white foam emerges 'Clint's' humpback. "There!" I cry out, jumping down from my seat. ""At six o'clock!" Veto cuts the engine and slowly nudges the bow of the boat around for better viewing.




	Whether the whale will stay and entertain us with its whale antics is anybody's guess. The mammoth creature knifes gracefully through the water directly in front of us. I can feel my heart pounding in my chest, something deep and primal stirring within my soul, as it always does whenever I am in the presence of kohola. In an instant, flukes up, it disappears from sight. One can be deeply humbled out here with the marine mammals. Here, on the kai, ocean, we humans with our finely tuned goals and agendas are small and impotent dots in the universe. There is no controlling nature. We can only dance with life on her terms, swaying and fluttering with her undulating and ever changing form. Evidently, our illusive whale friend finds us not be very satisfying company on this day, and as we continue to watch her, she heads out to deeper waters.


	SINCE THAT DAY WITH KOHOLA, I HAVE BECOME PROFOUNDLY aware of the Life Breath or Ha. It's as if Kohola was holding up a mirror before the three of us, inscribing forever within our hearts and souls the truth of being that we are All One. Every time one of these gentle giants rises to the surface of the water and I hear their long and prodigious whooosh expelling their three hundred mile an hour mighty spray of breath, I am reminded of my indissoluble connection with all beings of the planet.


	RETURN


	[Dolphins Hawaii Home] [Whale Watching] [Dolphin Watching] [About Dolphins Hawaii]


	Phone: (808) 936-1470 E-Mail: veto@hawaii.rr.com


	This site hosted by FlexNet and created by WebWork Hawaii