The Hawaiian Islands are a national marine sanctuary for humpback whales — a protected environment for these amazing creatures to breed and give birth. It’s such a delight to see a humpback whale’s spout (breath), or tail break the ocean’s surface, and absolutely thrilling to see a whale breach by jumping out of the water and creating a big splash. When we visit Hawaii during humpback whale season, we spend just about every spare moment whale watching. It’s truly addictive.
If you want to see humpback whales on your Hawaii vacation, we’ve gathered some fantastic data and information to help you decide when and where to go.
In your research, you may have seen different timeframes defining humpback whale season in Hawaii. November, December and January are frequently listed as the start of the season with April and May usually designated as the end of the season. NOAA says
the season runs from November to May, but there are certainly highs and lows within that timeframe. To better explain Hawaii’s humpback whale season, we’ve created an easy to read chart to help you understand how likely it is that you may see humpback whales based on when you visit.Likelihood of seeing Humpback whales? | |
---|---|
January | High |
February | High |
March | High |
April | Medium |
May | Low |
June | None |
July | None |
August | None |
September | None |
October | None |
November | Low |
December | Medium |
Where you go to see humpbacks in Hawaii is as important as when you go. The following map indicates the density of humpback whale sightings in Hawaii. From the low to high designations, you can see that the highest concentrations are:
We’ve visited all of the Hawaiian Islands during humpback whale season. When choosing a hotel or condo, from our experiences, we’ve found that the very best humpback whale action is along West and South Maui and the Kohala Coast of Hawaii’s Big Island. The above density map only reinforces our experiences.
So, if you really, really want to see lots of humpback whales on your Hawaii vacation, go during the peek of the season between January, February and March. It is generally believed that February is the absolute peek of the season. Stay at a hotel along the areas of high humpback density. We recommend West or South Maui and the Kohala Coast of the Big Island. See our where-to-stay guides for Maui and the Big Island for insights on accommodation selection.
No matter when you go to Hawaii, we hope you have a whale of a time!
Mahalo to Catherine Pope for sharing this Aloha Friday Photo. Catherine took this pretty photo…
We've sampled all of Oahu's tasty onolicious treats and here are our food picks every…
This week's featured Hawaii visitor photo shows a beautiful pastel sunset with palm trees.
We've "tasted" our way around the island of Kauai to identify all the best foods…
Mahalo to Megan Donnelly-Morris for sharing this beautiful Aloha Friday Photo. Megan took this photo…
Mahalo to Victoria Weissnicht from Austria for sharing this unique shot for Aloha Friday Photos.…
View Comments
I used to work on a sailboat in Maui for 4 years and the business whale activity times were definitely between Dec - Feb.
We have always stayed on the south coast of Kauai in January and see many humpback whales, even in close.
the first whale sighting will be 11 nov 2018
We have been watching whales (two different kinds) from my back yard in Paradise Park on the Big Island since Jan.1,2020. Watching them breach is truly amazing.
09/27/2022
We usually come in March and always look forward to a few whale watching cruises.