Each winter, from mid November through mid May, Maui welcomes its most beloved visitors: approximately 3,000 humpback whales who migrate from Alaska's frigid waters to Maui's sheltered shores. (There are only 7,000 to 8,000 humpback whales surviving in the wild today.) Maui's warm and relatively shallow waters are a perfect environment for these gentle marine giants to bear their young and mate.

Visitors and residents alike delight in sightings of the humpback whales as they spout, breach, thrust their tails above the surface and slap their fins. Because they tend to congregate close to shore, humpbacks are easy to spot from land or sea.

Humpback whales average 45 feet in the length and weigh about one ton per foot. Their newborns calves are one-and-a-half to three tons in weight, and consume 80 gallons of their mother's milk daily.

Whales are protected in Maui's waters, and federal laws regulate whale-watching activities in order to ensure the animals comfort and well being. The Center for Whale Studies, Whales Alive, Pacific Whale Foundation, Whale Aid, Ocean Mammal Institute and The Hawaiian Center for Whale Research are all headquartered on Maui and are committed to scientific research, public education programs and lobbying to save these magnificent creatures.

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