Splashing Into Whale Season
It’s Whale Season in Hawaii!
The following photos were taken today at the “Splash Into 2013″ event at Pu’ukohola Heiau National Historic Site. Our National Park Service staff would like to thank the staff and volunteers from the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary, Hawaii Pacific Parks Association, and the County of Hawai‘i Department of Environmental Management who made this event such a success!
Young visitors looking for humpback whales.
Mahalo to the staff and volunteers from the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary!!!
A humpback whale takes a big breath next to a whale watching tour boat. (NPS/Dave Boyle)
Justin Viezbicke, Hawaii Island Coordinator for the National Marine Sanctuary, sharing scientific and cultural information about Hawaii’s humpback whales.
Mahalo to Christopher Thayer and the other staff members from the County of Hawaii for sharing about the importance of recycling to our island environment.
Attack of the “Plastic Bag Monster” at Pu’ukohola Heiau. Staff members from the County of Hawaii shared how plastic bags can adversely affect our oceans.
Visitors and island residents had the opportunity to spot humpback whales from the park’s visitor center.
How big is a whale’s tail? This big!
When we weren’t looking at the ocean, we watched the sky and saw these wonderfully colored clouds. Some in the crowd joked about this possibly being the end of the world, but in the end, it was just pretty clouds!
Why just look at whales when you can take photos of them! (Unfortunately, we didn’t get that good of photos of the whales today…they were “mellow”…probably saving up strength for our upcoming Friday whale watches!)
The Plastic Bag Monster! This is the number of bags the average person uses each year.
A NOAA volunteer shares with park visitors.
You are invited to attend the weekly Humpback Whale Watches at Pu’ukohola Heiau National Historic Site (every Friday through March 29, 2013). Click here for details!
Reblogged this on Awesome Efficiency and commented:
Celebrating 2013′s Whale Season in Hawaii and in appreciation of its majestic water creatures, the National Park staff also featured its “Plastic Bag Monster” – costumed by the 500 bags typical of a given consumer, each year.