Aloha Friday Photo: A hui hou whales!

Mahalo nui loa to Norm Strole of Raleigh, North Carolina for sending in three photos for our Aloha Friday Photo series. I’ve chosen these three photos today as they symbolize the humpback whale season — from first sighting to finish.

This first photo shows the whale emerging from the ocean into a breach:

From this next photo, you can see the whale is rotating in this breach:

The grand finale of the breach concludes with a big splash.

Norm tells me that he snapped this series of photos of the same  breach when he visited Maui in February 2010. Here’s a bit more of what Norm shared:

We were on a commercial whale watching excursion just a few miles from Lahaina.  I was following the whale with my telephoto lens when it breached, so I was able to get three quick shutter clicks.  It was the only whale breach that we saw up close that day and was one of the highlights of our trip.

Alas, the humpback whales have completed their winter break in Hawaii’s sheltered waters and headed back to their nutrient rich summer homes, like Alaska. While we were  visiting Maui last week, we didn’t see or hear any signs of whales. We knew it was the tail end of the season, though.

It’s time to say  a hui hou (until we meet again) humpbacks!