Moby Dick,where art thou ? (Whale-searching II on day 12)

Since no humpback whales were sighted two days ago, I get to go on another whale-searching excursion for free, as this voucher indicates:


After flying over a much larger expanse of ocean just yesterday and not spotting a single whale, I don't expect to see any from the boat today, which has a much smaller range.  But I'm looking forward to another leisurely boat ride  !



On the other hand, after the morning's bike ride ...

Under the Volcano ...

 I was finally able to catch those VERY SHY red-headed birds in action on the balcony.  The left-out breakfast plate must have distracted them since they usually are gone the moment anything moves inside the apartment.

Then it's time to head to the harbour

As soon as the ship is under way; a shaky spinner dolphin ;-(

Some kind of operation catering to the 'My fish is bigger than your fish' crowd.

Speaking of crowds: Everyone is looking for a whale.

Now what is that? Something blowing right in front of the boat (that fuzzy bit on the bottom right)

 Now, exhaale deeeply, please.

While I am embarrassed to have to admit that I can't tell whether there is one humpback whale in the above picture or two (I suspect that the thing on the right is the tail), I am absolutely unanimous in the statement that there is 1 whale to be seen above the surface in the picture below.  When you look at this, think of an 18-wheeler steadily steaming below, because that's how big these are. 90,000 pounds of Blubber.

To celebrate the whale sighting and my free second trip I decide to go for a Mai-Tai. At first they want $7 but after I point out that on Friday they had been advertised at $5.50, the bartender quickly caves in by saying "That must have been a special. I'll give you a special."  Oh, come on guys, I don't have fleas, so there is no reason to try to fleece me !

Yummy AND Pretty

An old lava flow down the flank of Hualalai. The airport is built on that ;-)

All these house owners must be of the optimistic type.  Hualalai has not erupted since 1801, but apparently the US Geological Survey reports that it has been 'swelling' lately.

Back in the harbour: more Spinner Dolphins

 On some level I always felt that cruise ships evoke a sense of freedom and lack of boundaries.

But nothing could be further from the truth. Go check out a cruise ship itinerary and how much time they give in any particular port of call to get away from those horrible tourist shops.  Then subtract the time needed to get onto a tender boat to take you to land.  As if that wasn't bad enough, you have to line up again before getting back on board, just to run the gauntlet of a security check  (just LOOK at that lineup!)  How about having two or three or four people doing the security check to reduce that lineup? On the other hand, that would mean more time in the tacky tourist shops ;-)