Hawaii, Part 2, Whales and Hilo and Volcanos

The second day at Maui, Felicia and I went whale watching while Gordon, Alison, and John met with a friend of theirs who now lives in Kahului.

We were, by law, not allowed to approach the whales by closer than 100 yards and not allowed to harass any one whale by longer than 30 minutes. These are Humpback whales. They feed in Alaska then come south around Hawaii to mate and give birth. The gestation period is a year.The whales cannot eat in the warm pacific waters because the fish are too big for their baleen system. They have to fatten up in Alaska on krill and then come down to Hawaii to give birth and allow the calves to get strong enough off the mothers milk that it can make the journey back to Alaska to feed. A reas0on for them to give birth in Hawaii is that the number one predator on baby whale is the Orca and they don't venture as far south as Hawaii.

We left Maui and sailed to Hilo on the big island, Hawaii.

We rented a car in Hilo and drove to Volcano National Park on Mt Kilauea.

John had to be convinced to walk through the Lava Tube. When he realized that lights had been installed, he was fine with it. Hawaii Part 2 Video.