Seasonally the Humpback whales that visit Alaskan waters in the Summer spend their winter months enjoying the warm waters around the Hawaiian Islands. We just completed a trip to the Big Island of Hawaii. One of the many highlights of our visit was participating in a Whale Count by manning a station on the Kohala Coast for a period of four hours. Our station counted 30 whales, mostly adults but there were a few calves. We got to enjoy repeated breaching and tail slaps as the Humpbacks, when in Hawaii, just enjoy themselves just as we did.
Whale Count, Kohala Coast of the Island of Hawaii; photo by Fred Cooper
Did we get to do any fishing? Why of course. The waters off the west shore of Hawaii have some of the best marlin fishing in the world. We were out for seven hours and I caught my first Striped Marlin, a 100 pounder. Not big compared to some Blue Marlin caught in the same area but I got to add it to my fishing life list. A 900 pound Blue Marlin was caught by another boat the same day. I had a great time with Skipper Brian Cohen aboard his 32-foot Bertram, the Sea Dancer, out of Kailua-Kona.
