Hawaii
Stand Up Paddling Experiences with Humpbacks
Maui is the undisputed playground of Hawaii. No other Island has the range of activities and scenery available to you here. There’s almost nothing that you can’t do here on Maui: hike in pristine rainforests, snorkel in an extinct crater, coast a bicycle 10,000 feet down a volcano, walk along miles of beaches, dive into a natural freshwater pool, lie on a black or even a red sand beach. Whatever fantasy you have, Maui is bound to deliver.
So imagine yourself paddle boarding with humpback whales, snorkeling with sea turtles, and experiencing the trip of a lifetime.
Humpback Whales
Named for the arching of its back when it begins a deep dive, these graceful mammals are among the most endangered whales. Less than 10% of their original population remains. Recent efforts to protect humpbacks have resulted in a stabilization of their numbers.
Humpbacks live in all oceans, and migrate to warmer waters during winter, where they breed and give birth to calves. They do not feed while in the warmer waters, since their favorite foods are found in the colder waters of their summer feeding areas.
Scientists have discovered three distinct populations of humpbacks: Southern Hemisphere, North Atlantic, and North Pacific. All are baleen whales, which use throat pleats to filter out small fish, krill, or plankton from large mouthfuls of water.
The humpback's scientific name, Megaptera, means "large winged." This refers to their long flippers, which they sometimes use to slap the water and to stroke each other. Male Humpbacks are incredible singers, able to cover frequencies past the realm of human hearing. Some songs last 20 minutes or more, during which the singer floats motionless, with his head angled slightly down. The songs carry for miles underwater, and are repeated, with slight variations.
Stand Up Paddling Boarding
Stand up paddle surfing (SUP), or in the Hawaiian language Hoe he'e nalu, is an emerging global sport with a Hawaiian heritage. The sport is an ancient form of surfing, and began as a way for surfing instructors to manage their large groups of learner surfers, as standing on the board gave them a higher viewpoint, increasing visibility of what was going on around them - such as incoming swell. To begin with, this started with using a one-bladed paddle, whilst standing on a normal length surfboard. The popularity of the modern sport of SUP has its origination in the Hawaiian Islands. In the early 1960s, the Beach Boys of Waikiki would stand on their long boards, and paddle out with outrigger paddles to take pictures of the tourists learning to surf. This is where the term "Beach Boy Surfing", another name for Stand Up Paddle Surfing, originates.
