Footage shows the “surprise guests” approaching the swimmers at a popular dive spot before heading back to deeper water.
In Hawaii, it’s against the law to approach whales in an attempt to swim with the mammals. But every now and then, whales do the approaching when boats are idle and people are already in the water.
The accompanying footage shows a momma humpback whale and her calf swimming briefly with snorkelers at Molokini, a popular dive spot near Maui.
The footage also features the wonderful reactions of those aboard the Pride of Maui vessel, as both whales seem to inspect the snorkelers before swimming to deeper water.
“We had surprise guests snorkeling with us today at Molokini!” the Pride of Maui exclaimed Sunday. “Mahalo to our crew for capturing this rare moment!”
The footage shows the baby whale surfacing to breathe, but its exhalations are too weak to form a spout of mist.
The Pride of Maui encouraged viewers to watch to the end because that’s when momma whale provides the telltale “blow” as she takes a deep breath before diving.
Thousands of humpback whales are in Hawaiian waters for the breeding and calving season, which runs through May.
“Everybody put a hand on the canoe. Let’s see where she takes us.”
Editor’s note: This story originally ran in May 2023 before a series of wild fires broke out a few months later in August in the state of Hawaii, predominantly causing devastation in Maui. It has been edited to reflect, among other things, that one of the best restaurants on the island, Lahaina Grill, on Front Street in Lahaina, burned to the ground. Tourism is a huge part of the local economy and the reasons to make the journey to Hawaii still ring true.
I signed up for a sunrise canoe trip. It turned out to be so much more.
We paddled across crystalline waters, and I broke a sweat as the beaming sun rose over Mauna Kea on the Big Island. But the 12 of us – the others strangers to me before we met at the surf shack at Auberge Resorts Mauna Lani – who boarded the double-hulled canoe in the blue hour had no idea of the spiritual embrace we were about to experience. Our leader for this adventure called himself Uncle George, and he stood at the front of the boat and spoke to me in a way few people ever have.
“Everybody thought this was a boat ride, right?” he said even before we made our first stroke. “Never think that you were going to really get in touch with yourself. We’re going to help you folks get in touch with yourself, listening not with this ear but with the inner ear that touches the heart that makes you feel like you’re in the belly.
“We’re going out in the ocean and we’re at the mercy of the ocean. We ask the ocean to invite us in, and now we can take these cuffs and shed them off and work on that word, vulnerability, and be open to everything that we’re exposed to – the moon, the sun, the sky, the water. What a wonderful way to start the day, guys. We didn’t even go in the ocean yet. Everybody put a hand on the canoe. Let’s see where she takes us.”
The Chargers are part of the effort to bring help to the island after devastating wildfires.
The Chargers are lending their support to help the survivors of the devastating wildfires on Maui. They are donating at least $50,000 to aid the relief efforts.
The Bolts, along with the other Los Angeles professional sports teams have committed to donating a combined $450,000 to the American Red Cross.
“The images and video coming out of Maui over the past week are heartbreaking,” Chargers owner Dean Spanos said. “The destruction is beyond comprehension, and the loss of life is nothing short of tragic.
“This hits especially close to home when I think of the vibrant Hawaiian community here in Southern California and players past and present like [former linebacker] Manti Te’o and [safety] Alohi Gilman.”
Over 100 people were killed when wildfires swept through parts of the Hawaiian island.
“In the wake of recent events in Maui, the images, videos and stories of the past few days have struck a deeply personal chord with me,” Gilman said.
“Maui isn’t just a place on the map; it’s a part of my homeland, my connection to Hawaii. My heart resonates with the resilience of the people who lost their homes while also stepping up for their neighbors in need.”
The Chargers will donate their portion of their 50/50 raffle proceeds that they make during their preseason game against the Saints on Sunday.
Fans can start buying tickets when the gates open on Sunday until the end of the third quarter. They can be purchased on the concourse and at raffle kiosks throughout SoFi Stadium. The winning ticket number will be posted in-game on the video board during the fourth quarter.
Those who cannot attend the game can still donate to the American Red Cross to lend support.
“It’s been extremely heartening to see people from all walks of life rally around my people and return that love and support,” Te’o said.
“In life there are things that we simply cannot control, but what we can control is how we respond. This weekend is an opportunity for our Chargers ‘ohana to respond; to come together and assist Maui in its time of need.”
Hawaii-born Saints center Max Unger encouraged fans to support Maui wildfire relief efforts: ‘There’s a lot of people out there who are in dire, dire need of help’
Several former New Orleans Saints players are stepping up to support their home state — the Hawaiian island of Maui was recently ravaged by deadly wildfires, and guys like retired linebacker Manti Te’o and Pro Bowl center Max Unger doing their part to help relief efforts. Unger recently spoke about the situation and encouraged anyone with the means to help out to do so.
“It’s hard to read the articles and kind of follow it blow-by-blow, just because it’s so unthinkable,” Unger said on Seattle sports radio with hosts Brock Huard and Mike Salk. “I know that area pretty well. I haven’t spent a lot of time there but I know a handful of people who live there, people I played (football) with, it’s hard. You drive by there and realize it’s, for the most part, completely gone. It doesn’t compute with me.”
Unger acknowledged that something he’s cherished about life on the islands — he’s a fifth-generation Hawaiian, with long-running family ties on The Big Island — is the isolation and privacy from busy life on the American mainland, but that same partitioning becomes a challenge when emergency strikes. So he’s all the more grateful to see so many people reaching out to help.
He also spoke on the topic on another Seattle sports talk show with Dave Mahler and Dick Fain: “There’s just a lot of need right now, it’s just a call to anyone who’s got anything to spare. Donate to your favorite charity, I know there’s a lot there. There’s a lot of people out there who are in dire, dire need of help.”
The Saints got a good one in Unger, and odds are the Seahawks would love the chance at a do-over — they’re still searching for his replacement after cycling through nearly a dozen different centers since trading him to New Orleans back in 2015. Unger went on to win Pro Bowl recognition with the Saints before retiring on his own terms and going home to the islands.
StrackaLine offers hole-by-hole maps for the Hawaiian host of the 2023 Sentry Tournament of Champions.
Kapalua’s Plantation Course, site of this week’s 2023 Sentry Tournament of Champions on the PGA Tour, was built in 1991 – the first course designed by the now-famous architecture duo of Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw.
The Plantation maxes out at 7,596 yards and a par of 73, with only one par 3 on the back nine. With several downhill tee shots and the possibility of drives rolling out past 400 yards, the course usually plays significantly shorter than the yardage might indicate.
Thanks to yardage books provided by StrackaLine – the maker of detailed yardage books for thousands of courses around the world – we can see exactly the challenges the pros face this week. Check out the maps of each hole below.
Authorities in Hawaii have called off the search for a 60-year-old woman a day after she went missing while snorkeling in an area where a large shark had been sighted
Authorities in Hawaii have called off the search for a 60-year-old woman a day after she went missing while snorkeling in an area where a large shark had been sighted.
The unidentified woman was snorkeling with her husband at Keawakapu Point in south Maui and went missing just before noon Thursday.
According to the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources, the husband and other witnesses saw the shark about 50 yards offshore. It was believed to be a tiger shark measuring 10 to 12 feet.
“The woman’s husband reported while the couple was snorkeling he saw a shark swim by but could not see his wife,” the DLNR stated in a news release issued Friday. “The shark swam by several times before the man returned to shore and reported his wife missing.”
A vast multi-agency search ensued Thursday and into Friday, but officers failed to find evidence that a large shark was still in the area.
The couple had been visiting from Washington State. The DLNR stated that it does not disclose identities of individuals involved in shark encounters.
The news release concluded: “DLNR, Maui County, and other agencies and individuals involved in the search extend their condolences to the family and friends of the missing woman.”
The PGA Tour follows the sun to some of the most beautiful spots around and is currently swinging through a series of our favorite islands.
The famed island green at the 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, may be the best known island on the PGA Tour, but it’s not the only one. In fact, the PGA Tour enjoys its own island swing.
Bermuda (October), Bahamas (December) … it sounds like a Beach Boys song including all the island paradises where the Good Ship PGA Tour drops anchor to spend a week and play 72 holes. This week: St. Simons Island, Georgia, for the RSM Classic.
Jimmy Buffett would enjoy the Tour’s island fever, hopping to the Riviera Maya in Mexico (October), Puerto Rico (March) and places such as the Dominican Republic (March). When it’s sweater weather for much of the contiguous 48 states in January, the Tour heads to Maui and Oahu and returns for stops along the eastern seaboard at Ponte Vedra Beach and Hilton Head Island in March and April, respectively. And this list doesn’t even include the British Isles because, well, you get the idea: These guys are living the dream.
After all, island time is the best time. Here’s a closer look at these island destinations.
A photographer in Maui has captured a photo sequence showing a humpback whale launching its entire body out of the water.
The image atop this post, showing a humpback whale calf breaching clear of the surface, was featured this week by a whale-themed Facebook page with no details about location or time. For The Win Outdoors reached out to the photographer, Burak Ayday, and was told the image is part of a sequence captured off Maui on March 1, 2020, as COVID-19 dominated the news cycle and days before a global pandemic was declared.
The images are wonderful in part because large whales rarely launch their massive bodies entirely out of the water – it’s a feat mostly reserved for smaller calves. Ayday allowed the use of his photos and provided the following recollection of his unforgettable encounter:
“It is a day that I won’t soon forget. The media was full of talk of the coronavirus and the unsure times ahead. Living in Hawaii, there is a sort of disconnect from the news and things that are happening worldwide. All I knew is that whales were in abundance in Maui and that I needed to get out and capture as much as I could before the season had ended or lockdowns were put in place.
“A friend of mine, Sean, texted me at about 7 a.m. and asked if I wanted to hit the water. Shortly after 8 we were heading out in search of whales. During our mission we encountered lots of friendly whales, and picture-perfect water conditions.
“We came upon this calf at about noon. The little calf put on quite the show, displaying pec-slaps, lunges, and breaches for well over 30 minutes… right before he took it upon itself to perform one of the most legendary breaches I have ever seen with my own eyes.
“The boat went absolutely silent… there were no words to be had for what just happened. This whale cleared an unthinkable distance above the surface, and we were lucky enough to have witnessed it. Gratitude and disbelief quickly entered my mind.
“How, Why, How, and How? This whale had already used up so much energy. How did it find it within itself to propel himself out of the water like a rocket to the moon? I truly don’t know, but what I do know is that not 15 seconds later a full-grown bull of a humpback barreled himself out of the water as high as possible, as if not to be outdone by a wee young calf.
“I think about this day often. This calf serves as a source of inspiration. The courage, the strength, and execution of the breach we witnessed, will continue to inspire me for the rest of my life.”
A Maui father-and-son survived a harrowing encounter with a large shark Tuesday as they kayaked together off the island’s west side.
A Maui father-and-son survived a harrowing encounter with a large shark Tuesday as they kayaked together off the island’s west side.
Daniel and Tristan Sullivan were searching for whales when the shark – possibly a great white shark – bit and thrashed their kayak, spilling them into the water.
“When its mouth rose up and bit into the kayak, it was like a scene out of a movie,” Daniel Sullivan, the father, told Hawaii News Now. “The water streaming off of it, these giant teeth coming right at us, and then the way it just pushed the entire boat up halfway and pulled us back down into the water.”
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Both kayakers swam toward shore for about 35 minutes as the shark continued to bite their kayak. The paddlers were not injured.
Hawaii’s Department of Land and Natural Resources issued a statement regarding the incident:
“Just before 2 p.m., a father and son reported to the Maui Dispatch Center that they were kayaking in the 1000 Peaks area (Ukumehame), when a shark attacked their boat. They fell overboard when the kayak sank, and they were able to safely swim to shore.
“They reported the shark as a ten-foot tiger shark. Personnel from DAR and DOCARE officers are now attempting to get more information from the pair.”
Tiger sharks are most often implicated in attacks on humans and/or their kayaks and surfboards in Hawaiian waters. However, the Sullivans said this shark’s snout was pointier than the more rounded snouts of tiger sharks.
Great white sharks are rare in Hawaii, but adult white sharks from the U.S. and Mexico migrate as far west as Hawaii during the fall and winter. Bite marks visible on the bottom of the kayak appear to be from a large shark.
Tristan Sullivan, 15, described the encounter via Instagram:
“Today my dad and I were out kayaking when a massive shark bit our kayak and flipped us into the water we tried to get back into it but it was taking on water fast and we kept falling back into the water. At the time we were about a mile out and eventually we had to leave our kayak and start swimming in knowing the whole time the shark could be right behind us thankfully we made it back safe.”
The DNLR closed beaches in the area and they were set to reopen Wednesday at noon.
–Image showing bite marks on the kayak is courtesy of Tristan Sullivan
Kapalua in Maui is No. 1 on the list in Hawaii for Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play 2020.
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Ocean views, lava-lined fairways, palm trees – golf in Hawaii naturally has plenty going for it. But the best of the best public-access golf in the island paradise is even better these days after renovations and restorations to several top courses in recent years.
That starts at Kapalua’s Plantation Course, annual host site of the PGA Tour’s Sentry Tournament of Champions. The design team of Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw oversaw extensive restoration work on the Plantation that wrapped up late in 2019, helping what already was No. 1 on Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play list in the Aloha State strengthen its grasp on the top spot.
Golfweek ranks courses by compiling the average ratings – on a points basis of 1 to 10 – of its more than 750 raters to create several industry-leading lists of courses. That includes the popular Best Courses You Can Play list for courses that allow non-member tee times. These generally are defined as courses accessible to resort guests or regular daily-fee players.
Kapalua’s Plantation Course is famous for providing sweeping views of the Pacific Ocean on television as the Tour kicks off its annual calendar each year. The course, which plays some 400 feet up and down the side of a mountain in Maui, opened in 1991, and regular wear and tear over the years led to the renovation that wrapped up 13 months ago. Now the course has been restored to its fast and firm conditions, perfect for golf in the island breezes with balls frequently rolling prodigious distances along sweeping fairways and into greens.
Aside from being the top public-access layout in Hawaii, Plantation ranks No. 44 among all tracks on Golfweek’s Best Modern Courses list for layouts built in or after 1960.
Four Seasons Resort Hualālai in Hawaii (Courtesy of Four Seasons)
Four Seasons Resort Hualālai in Kailua-Kona, ranked No. 5 in Hawaii on that Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play list, is another example of a recent renovation, having wrapped up work in 2020 on its Jack Nicklaus-designed layout. Set among black lava rock alongside the Pacific, the layout received a new coat of paspalum grass, bunkers were reshaped and greens were recontoured. The resort said it worked closely with Nicklaus to retain the integrity of the course that hosts the PGA Tour Champions’ Mitsubishi Electric Championship.
Four Season Resorts Manele course in Hawaii (Courtesy of Four Seasons)
Four Season Resort’s Manele Course in Lanai is No. 2 on Hawaii’s public-access list and is No. 51 on Golfweek’s Best Modern list for the entire U.S. Built by Nicklaus in 1991 on lava outcroppings, the course features three holes atop cliffs above the Pacific.
Mauna Kea Beach Hotel’s eponymous course at Kohala Coast is No. 3 on Hawaii’s public-access list. Built by Robert Trent Jones Sr. in 1964, the layout sits atop a black lava field and received a modernization by Rees Jones in 2008.
Princeville Makai Golf Club in Hawaii (Courtesy of Princeville Makai)
Princeville Makai in Kauai, Robert Trent Jones Jr.’s first-ever solo course, is No. 4 on Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play list. Opened in 1971 and renovated in 2009-’10, the layout features six ocean holes.
As might be expected, Hawaii also features stunning private golf courses. Nanea in Kona is No. 1 in Hawaii on Golfweek’s Best Private Courses list, and it is No. 17 on Golfweek’s Best Modern list for the whole U.S.
Kukio Golf and Beach Club in Kailua-Kona is No. 2 on Hawaii’s Private list, followed by No. 3 Kohanaiki in Kailua-Kona, No. 4 Hokulia in Kailua-Kona and No. 5 Kukuiula in Koloa.
Mauna Kea Beach Hotel’s course in Hawaii (Courtesy of Mauna Kea)
The members of our course-ratings panel continually evaluate courses and rate them based on our 10 criteria. They also file a single, overall rating on each course. Those overall ratings on each course are averaged together to produce a final rating for each course. Then each course is ranked against other courses in its state, or nationally, to produce the final rankings.
