I drove to Safeway at 5:30AM this morning simply because I woke up wanting to cook a big breakfast. Was I the only one in there searching for bacon at that hour on a Friday? Maybe. Alas. It was a fantastic start to the day.
Did some whale watching this morning! Maui has the highest population of humpback whales in the world during mating season. The entire world. They migrate here from Alaska for the first few months of the years for a variety of reasons, but primarily to give birth and raise calves, as these little babies don't have any insulation when they're born and the Alaskan waters aren't too forgiving with the temps. I say 'babies' lightly...the newborns are anywhere from 10-14 feet when they're born and weigh 1,500 pounds. The gestation period is a full year and females are able to immediately start the cycle over again after birth so it's common that the same moms are coming back to give birth in the same waters, year over year...typically for their first 30 years, but without going through menopause, females can consistently give birth until they're well into their 70s. Yikes! While they're raising their calf in the winter months, they're also being fought over by their next potential suitors. Based on what we learned today, females are very picky (and can be due to the high male to female ratio in the waters) and the males want to impregnate, but then have no interest in sticking around or being a father (you can imagine the jokes that were happening on the boat after that fact). Lucky for us, all of these suitor battles lead to high activity between groupings and we got to see some of the competition with lots of blowing and fin slapping. We saw 6 breach and lots of pectoral-fin waving; one even swam right under the boat! What majestic creatures. A perfect way to spend a few hours to start the day and I'm grateful we had 2 great guides on board for the tour. I'd absolutely recommend them to anyone that's coming to town.
Spent the afternoon on the beach reaching and walking. I'm thrilled I have nothing exciting to report other than finally finishing my pies and my bottle of Sauvignon Blanc. It was lovely.
My last full day tomorrow! Going to enjoy it to the fullest.
Aloha!
Yorumlar