If we ever doubt that animals can teach us, all one needs to do is go on a marine safari.  Today we had over 45 minutes of close encounters with two very large animals.  They dove next to us, paused by our engines (which were shut down) and allowed our videographer to get footage of their grapefruit-sized brown eyes while lying on our swim step, camera in hand and snorkel mask on to keep track of their deliberate movements around our vessel.   Whether or not they can hear everyone on board running from side to side, squeals of delight and exhuberant shouts when they surface close by, we can’t know, but these animals taught us patience today.

Several times they dove down slowly, enabling us to watch as they disappeared into the clear blue depths.  We were in about 220 feet of water and the clarity was about 100 feet.  Three times they chose to stay down for 10 minutes.  How very interesting it was exactly 10 minutes each time!  While we waited we checked our cameras, refilled our drinks, some grabbed a hot dog and others tried to quickly empty some of the memory cards in anticipation of obtaining more amazing shots upon their return.

It was a glorious day.  Perfect weather, calm seas that were nearly glassy, and just enough breeze to keep cool.  Every time we have a mind blowing safari we ask ourselves,  “How can we top this?”  It seems that the answer mother nature has is always an unexpected and amazing surprise.  I can’t wait for the next trip!  If you are coming to Maui, whale watching should be on the top of your list.

Katie Velasquez is a photographer, writer, lecturer, and educator working in Hawaii for Maui-Moloka'i Sea Cruises dba Prince Kuhio.  She can be reached @ reefannie@hotmail.com