whale watching charters

Well, we sit about halfway through our whale season and it’s been nothing short of phenomenal!  Highlights of our North Shore whale watching cruises so far have been a heater ( breading) session of Humpbacks surrounded by sharks that extended for an hour. It just so happened to take place when the boat was stopped observing some sharks in the water and the whales came up right next to us as they started, so the view was amazingly close! The second highlight, which is a very special story happened as our guests who were celebrating their 70th birthday got to witness a Humpback whale give birth to a fresh baby! The Mom was laying there on the surface motionless for about 15 minutes while we watched. Wondering what she was doing as we kept our attention towards her our question was answered as the baby calf, very white in complexion came up for its first breath of air! Once that happened mom and baby circled for another 15 minutes or so enjoying their first moments together on Earth as they slowly swam in a circle, breathing and taking it all in.

In addition to the two highlights, our Oahu whale watching tour groups have been seeing a ton of breaching whales every morning and throughout the day. Locating them has not been an issue.  Usually, we see the whales pretty good all the way through the end of April before they head home to Alaska. Our aspiring whale specialist, Captain Hunter Farr is a wealth of knowledge and we’ve been really fortunate to have him on board! A new addition to our whale watch tours is the underwater microphone that’s been really, really fun! Putting it in the water with the engines off hearing the male whales sing. It adds so much to the experience! Weather-wise we’ve had an exceptional winter as well! The entire month of January has been nothing but stellar and continues into the month of February. Hopefully, this trend continues for the rest of the season, it’s been delightful. With the calmer weather, we’ve also been seeing a lot of dolphins mixed into our adventure tours which have been nice too.  Galapagos and Sandbar sharks have been present as always as well. Life is good onboard Banzai Adventures!  So please go online or give us a call to book your unforgettable adventure tour, whale watch tour,  big wave adventure, or sunset tour with us soon!

Humpback whale watching on Oahu is truly amazing and the experience of seeing them up close never gets old. Our season that Humpback whales migrate through the Hawaiian starts in December and goes through April. The Humpback whales spend the fall months coming down the west coast of the US mainland from Alaska into Mexico and cross over to Hawaii to give birth to calves and nurse their young here on the North Shore of Oahu until the time comes to complete the 6,000-mile round trip journey and head back to Alaska. While they’re here away from the predation of killer whales, great white sharks, and other irritants to give birth, they really seem to enjoy the Hawaiian, Pacific Ocean waters. Often seen slapping their giant pectoral fins, tails, poking their big heads out to get a closer look at us, and breaching clear out of the water is nothing short of breathtaking.

We have a ton of fun sharing this Oahu whale watching experience with you from the safety, shaded, dry and comfortable confines of our rigid inflatable bottom (RIB)boat. Banzai is such a perfect North shore tour boat to experience this from! Often times we can get into an area where we’re seeing a lot of whale activity and then shut the motor off and drift with them. This gives you the added experience of hearing them breathe and gives the whales a comfortable feeling of knowing we aren’t there to chase after them or harass them. We are there to see their beauty and grace. When doing this we have some mind-blowing experiences that will leave you absolutely 100% grateful that you decided to go on our guaranteed-to-see whale adventure on Banzai!

Humpback whales can reach up to 55 feet in length and weigh in at 30 tons! The calves are born in the 10-15 foot range and weigh in at 2,000 pounds. About 11,000 humpback whales migrate through the Hawaiian islands each year and the north shore of Oahu is by far the best place to view them as they really tend to concentrate close to the island in a predictable area that offers us the ability to guarantee that you’ll see them during the season on our adventure boat tour. All ages are welcome to join our private boat tour on this unforgettable experience. We can take up to 6 persons on this 1 hour plus North Shore whale watching experience!