KONA WHALE WATCHING TOUR

WATCH HUMPBACK WHALES IN HAWAI’I JUMP FOR JOY!

This Whale Watch Adventure is an exclusive 2.5 hours trip to find the seasonal Humpback Whales (Dec.-March) and/or the year round Pilot Whales, Beaked-Whales, Melon-headed whales, and other species that can be found along the Kona coastline. We will focus on finding these magnificent mammals and spending quality time with them to observe, learn, photograph and listen to their song and other vocalizations with our underwater hydrophone system.

Of course if you’d like to snorkel as well, all of our other tours become whale watching tours seasonally as we will always make an effort to find and stop to enjoy the whales on every trip!

Witness the Magic of Humpback Whales in Kona

While we have some whale species that choose Kona’s coastline to live all year round; many people will travel to the Hawaiian Islands specifically to see the Humpback Whale population that comes and visits. We will go into more detail on why these whales make the journey and what their significance is in Hawaii’s marine ecosystem, later on.

When you book your whale watching tour with us during peak season, you are in for a real treat! The new mothers, male whales (also known as “escorts”), and the new baby whale calves, are known to put on a show.

From fin and tail slaps, to close encounters with our idle boat, to even full breaches out of the water, there are few things on the planet more magical than being out on the water with these creatures.

Have a Close Encounter With Hawaii’s Whales

The biggest rule when it comes to whale watching in Hawaii is making sure that you are being safe and respectful towards the marine life who call the Kona tropical waters home. This means that when we are near a whale pod, we will turn off our engines and remain idle as they may choose to interact with our boat.

This is no cause for alarm! The whales that habit and visit Hawaii will not cause a “Moby Dick” scenario. However, this does mean that sometimes we might not be able to kick it into high gear back to the shore. If anything, being caught in the midst of a whale pod that decides to check out our boat means being able to see these massive creatures so close that you can make out every barnacle, scrape, and pattern of the mammal. Truly, at Dolphin Discoveries, our whale watching tours are an experience of a lifetime.

Book Your Kona Whale Watching Tour this Winter

The most unique thing about Hawaii’s Humpback Whale population is that they are not a year-round habitant of the islands. The whales travel from the brisk Alaskan waters to Hawaii from around December to late March in order to mate or give birth to their young, and raise those young calves, before returning to the arctic.

The Pacific Ocean water surrounding each Hawaiian Island is much warmer than the cold arctic. Newly born whales do not yet have the blubber, or insulation, to survive Alaska’s frigid temperature; which explains why the mother whales make the six to eight week journey down to the tropics. When you book a whale watching tour in Kona you are strapping in for an adventure where you might see full breaches out of the ocean, day old humpback whale babies learned to flip over and slap their fins against the water, and the oh-so exciting meeting of a competition pod!

There’s no shortage of fun and excitement to be had when exploring the ocean with Dolphin Discoveries!