Frequently Asked Questions

Humpback whale season runs from December through April, with peak sightings typically in January, February, and March.

Yes — you will see whales. During whale season our sightings are 100%, and our captains know exactly where to find the action. If you don’t see a whale on your trip, we will gladly bring you back again free of charge.

February and March are the peak. The season builds through December and January as the whales arrive from Alaska, holds at its highest density through February and March — that is when calves are being born and singers are everywhere on the hydrophone — then tapers in April as males and juveniles head north first. Mothers with new calves linger latest.

Morning. The channel between Maui and Lānaʻi is usually flattest early, before the trade winds build through the afternoon, and calm water makes whales far easier to spot at distance — you are looking for a spout, and a spout is hard to pick out of a chop. Our earliest departure is 7:00 AM. Late afternoon has its own case: the light is better, which is why the sunset charter exists.

More than 10,000 humpbacks make the crossing to Hawaiian waters each winter, and the shallow, sheltered Auʻau Channel off West Maui is the single most important nursery in the North Pacific. That concentration is the reason a two-hour trip is enough.

Often. Spinner dolphins are the most common — guests regularly see them on the same trip — along with the wider marine life of the channel. Whales are what we go out for and what the guarantee covers; everything else is the bonus that comes with being on the water.

Not with any reliability. The humpbacks are in Alaska the rest of the year — the first scouts appear off West Maui in November, and the last stragglers leave in May. We run the whale watch seasonally rather than advertising trips outside the window the animals actually keep.

Most tours are 2 hours from start to finish.

All tours depart from Kaʻanapali Beach, behind Whalers Village. Private sunset charters depart from Mala Boat Ramp in Lahaina.

The first trip of the day leaves at 7:00 AM, and the private sunset charter from Mala Boat Ramp goes out in the late afternoon. Times through the season vary with conditions and demand, so the live calendar in the booking window is the one to trust — it shows exactly what is running on the day you are looking at.

2435 Kaʻanapali Pkwy, Lahaina, HI 96761 — on Kaʻanapali Beach behind Whalers Village. The private sunset charter meets at Mala Boat Ramp in Lahaina instead, at the north end of Front Street behind the Safeway.

In the Whalers Village parking structure, which is a short walk from the beach where we board. Parking there is not validated, so budget for it — and give yourself a few extra minutes at peak times, particularly for the 7:00 AM departure.

If conditions are not safe we do not go out. You will be offered a reschedule onto another departure or a full refund — your choice. We would rather move your trip than run one in water that spoils it, and the captain makes that call on the day.

A shuttle boat takes you from the beach out to the vessel, so there is no wading and no surf to climb through. Our crew runs it every day and it is quick. Private sunset charters board at Mala Boat Ramp in Lahaina instead.

Earlier than you think for the peak. January, February and March book out first, and within those months the morning departures go before the rest of the day. If your trip is inside the peak and you are set on a particular date, book it before you arrive.

Up to 20 guests, plus the captain and a certified marine naturalist. That is the whole point of the boat — small enough that everyone has an unobstructed view and can move to whichever side the whale surfaces on.

Yes. Two of them: a private whale watch departing Kaʻanapali Beach, and a private sunset charter from Mala Boat Ramp in Lahaina. Both are two hours, both are your group only, and both take up to 20 guests. They are booked per boat rather than per person.

That is exactly what the private charters are for — families, small groups, birthdays, anniversaries and memorials. Call us if you want to talk through timing or anything particular you have in mind.

We operate a custom rigid hull inflatable boat (RHIB) designed for speed, comfort, and getting closer to the whales than big-boat tours can.

Yes — full coverage overhead. It matters more than people expect at 7:00 AM in Hawaii, and it is one of the reasons this boat works for a two-hour trip with children aboard.

No. There is no restroom on the boat, so use the facilities before you board — the trip is two hours on the water plus the shuttle out and back. It is worth mentioning to children before you leave for the beach rather than after.

Yes. We carry an underwater hydrophone and broadcast it through the vessel, so when a male is singing nearby everyone aboard hears it live. Song is loudest and most frequent from January through March.

Yes, you may bring water, snacks, and non-alcoholic beverages.

There is dry bag storage aboard for phones, cameras and small personal items. Bring less than you think — an open boat is not the place for anything you would hate to get wet.

Absolutely! Whales often come close to the boat. Waterproof phone cases are recommended.

It is the reason a lot of photographers rebook. The hull sits low, so your lens is barely above the surface rather than looking down from a second deck; there is no cabin or window between you and the animal; and at 20 guests there is room to cross the deck. Two of our captains through the 2025/26 season ranked among the six most prolific whale-encounter contributors on Earth on Happywhale’s global leaderboard — the same instinct for where a whale will surface, pointed at your shot.

Comfortable clothing, sunglasses, reef-safe sunscreen, and a light jacket — conditions can be breezy on the water.

Yes! Children love it.

Two years old. The deciding factor is usually not age but whether a child will keep a life jacket on and stay seated while the boat is moving — you know your own child better than we do.

Some people do. A RHIB is fast and stable but livelier than a large catamaran — you feel the water. Three things help: take the earliest departure, when the channel is calmest; take anything for motion sickness before boarding rather than after, because it works far better ahead of time; and keep your eyes on the horizon rather than on a phone.

Life jackets and safety equipment for everyone, and a full safety briefing before you leave the beach.

No. The boat is not wheelchair accessible. Boarding is by shuttle from the beach and then a step across into an open boat, which needs a reasonable degree of mobility and balance at both ends. If you are unsure whether it will work for someone in your party, call us before you book and we will talk it through honestly rather than have you find out at the water.

No. We cannot take guests who are pregnant, at any stage. This is not caution for its own sake: a rigid hull inflatable moving over chop delivers repeated hard impacts through the seat, and that is not a risk we will take with a pregnancy. A private charter does not change the answer — it is the same hull and the same water. If someone in your group is expecting, the rest of the party is very welcome and we will happily help you plan around it.

To breed and to give birth, not to eat. The Auʻau Channel is shallow — rarely deeper than about 300 feet — warm, and sheltered on three sides by high islands that block the trade winds. For a newborn calf with almost no blubber and no swimming stamina, warm, flat water with few large predators is the difference between surviving the winter and not.

No. Hawaiʻi has no krill and no bait balls worth chasing. Adults arrive fat from a summer of feeding in Alaska and live off that reserve for the entire season — a nursing mother can lose a third of her body weight before she heads north again.

Around 3,000 miles from the Alaskan feeding grounds, which takes them roughly four to eight weeks. They do it twice a year.

Adults run about 45 feet — longer than the boat you will be sitting in. Calves are born at 10 to 15 feet and put on something like 100 pounds a day on milk that is roughly half fat.

Spouts first — a fifteen-foot column of mist is usually how the captain finds a pod. Then, depending on the day: breaching, tail slaps, pec slaps, spy hops where the whale rises vertically and looks at you, fluke-up dives, and in peak season competition pods, where several males jostle around one female. That last one is the most dramatic thing you can see in Hawaiian waters.

Only males. A single song runs ten to twenty minutes and repeats for hours, and every male in the North Pacific population sings the same version — which is revised, collectively, season by season. Nobody fully knows why.

No closer than 100 yards. Federal regulations prohibit approaching a humpback closer than that in Hawaiian waters and we hold the line. Whales are free to close the distance themselves, and often do — which is why so many of our best encounters happen with the engines off.

No. Humpbacks are federally protected in Hawaiian waters and swimming with them is not permitted, by us or by anyone else. This is a watching trip, not a swimming one.

No. We position and wait rather than pursue. Chasing changes a whale’s behaviour, and a whale that is avoiding a boat is not one worth watching. We never place the vessel directly in a whale’s path or run up from astern, and mothers with newborn calves get more room than the minimum requires.

On every trip. An MWA certified marine naturalist narrates what you are seeing as it happens — which behaviour that was, who in the pod is doing what, and why. It also means the operation is watched by someone whose job is the whales rather than the schedule.

We log unusual sightings and report entangled or injured animals to NOAA’s marine mammal hotline, 1-888-256-9840. If you ever see one yourself, from a boat or from shore, that is the number.