Kauai Dolphins

Spinner dolphins swimming all around the raft, on a day when the water was incredibly crystal clear…

Kauai’s Humpback whales are back for the season. The season will last from Dec. 2009 to May 2010. The activity will increase in Jan-Mar, so this would be the optimal time for whale watching tours with Napali Riders.

Humpback whale spout

Dolphins swimming along Kekaha, Kauai

Kauai Activities :: Dolphins

Today was an amazing day of dolphin encounters. It’s November so you don’t always know how the water conditions will be on Na Pali Coast. But today was just fine, and we’ve already gotten so much feedback from the passengers who went that day about how awesome the tour was. Luckily, our photographer Bill was able to capture this eventful day with his magical eye, enjoy the photos!

Kauai Dolphin Tours

These incredible shots were taken by Danney (crew man) while sitting on the bow of the raft. We had excellent conditions, even though it’s already well into October.

Kauai Dolphins

Kauai Dolphins

It started out to be a beautiful day, one of those one-of-a-kind, except here on the Na Pali, it seems to happen more than once in a while. Dolphins, turtles, whales, breaching mom and baby whales, snorkeling, surfing, and a gorgeous sunny warm day. We got to order everything on the menu and ate it all up.

We were able to get all the way to Hanakoa Valley. The winter swells continue to reduce in size and the winds are changing. I feel summer right around the corner!

Another outstanding day of whales. We witnessed a female thrashing her pectoral fins on the water as a huge……I mean HUGE, male breached out of the water as he tried to entice the female with his strength. Lots of mothers and newborn calves gave us a great show as they swam all around us.
We had an added bonus as we witnessed the longest waterfall on Na Pali,, from Mt. Waialeale. Dropping down 4,000 feet with full force as it makes it’s way into the ocean right in front of us.

It was a “baby whale day” today. We came across numerous mothers as they fed breakfast to their newborn calves. This always proves to be a great show. The mothers will stay on the surface, roll on their sides and feed their young.

About two miles outside of Makaha Ridge the males continue their battle for the females. Lots of tail slapping and head butting going on. Only the strongest males will win the females affection!

We can hardly pull out of the harbor these days without seeing whales right away. The humpbacks are out and about and their numbers seem greater than years prior on Kauai. Their activity level has increased as we are seeing more and more males competing for the females. We saw several males kind of doing a domination thing with one other, swimming back and forth aggressively, and getting very close to each other.

We have also been seeing a lot more of our Spinner dolphin friends. The spinners can’t keep from having fun when we show up and many were jumping, spinning and riding the bow of our boat. We also saw a humpback triple-breach right off the bow of our raft.

Check out an article about Na Pali Riders’ whale watching tours in the Honolulu Advertiser on Sunday, February 8, 2009.

http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009902080333