Yesterday, driving into Lapakahi Historical Park to go snorkeling, my wife and I saw a Humpback Whale, close offshore, doing multiple tail slaps. After we parked the car and headed towards down to the shore, the whale was still slapping its tail. By the time we had our gear on and ready to swim, it looked like the whale was done and heading south.

But, as we got in the water, I saw the whale heading north. We swam out, without any thought of seeing the whale. Chances were it would dive and disappear, or move on, or turn around again. But once out toward the edge of the reef, we realized the whale was hanging around and even nudging towards the shore. By this time it was doing fin slaps.

We had never been this close to a whale in the water and the sight of the huge fin reaching up and then slapping the water with a loud thwack was impressive. As we watched, the fins got larger. I dipped my head underwater and could make out the hazy shape of the whale, the first time I’ve ever seen one in the water. Eventually, the whale came into full view and paralleled our course for a few minutes before it eased away, though it remained quite close to shore.

The whole encounter was deeply moving, an end of year gift for us and another swimmer who was there. During that swim, we also saw three reef sharks and later, a pod of dolphins. It says something that those encounters, normally the highlight of any swim, felt anticlimactic!