In a weak moment, I agreed to be a guest blogger this week.
I'm new at this, so be patient with me.
As Rhea mentioned, my husband and I just returned from Maui.
It's whale season there right now.
The endangered, Northern Pacific Humpback whales trek 3,000 miles from Alaska to have their babies
or breed in the safe, warmer waters of Maui. Why Maui? Who knows?
But, it's a pretty fabulous place for humans, too!
The Humpbacks eat plankton, krill and small fish found in northern Pacific water. These food sources aren't present in Maui. So, the humpbacks fast, and live off their fat reserves while in Hawaii.
It's like a weight loss, spa trip into warmer waters ... except for the ones having babies.
The moms weigh about 40 tons, and are about 42-45 feet long.
The sound of a 40 ton whale breaching the water and plopping back down is incredible!
No one knows if they breach to play ... or to knock off parasites. Maybe both.
Or maybe they're trying to run off those pesky males that want to breed.
They also release "spouts" which you can see from far away. I love how the spouts glisten in the sunlight. The spouts are actually whales exhaling.
We went out on a whale watching expedition. Actually, we were in awe of these creatures, and went out three times. I got so close to one whale that I got sprayed by her spout! This whale was a juvenille, and probably weighed about 20 tons.
She held our boat hostage for about an hour as she played with us ... and swam under and around our boat, over and over again. Several times, she came up to look at us.
Baby humpbacks are born weighing about 3,000 pounds (that's about what my car weighs), and they drink 100 gallons of milk a day. They gain several pounds a day. Whale milk is about 50% fat.
There are many amazing facts about the world's largest mammal.
And, this is the whale's fluke! .... the tail's end! And, the end of my tale.
Thanks for letting me join the blogging world today, and be a guest on Rhea's blog.
She's such a fabulous, creative, and loving daughter.
More on that, another time.
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