I have always been fascinated by the vast Whales I have seen on TV nature programs and the Orca I have seen at SeaWorld in Florida. I had always wanted to see them in their natural habitat and have now been able to cross it off my bucket list.
Whale-watching tourism has grown substantially since the mid-1980s. Hoyt conducted the first worldwide whale-watching survey for the WDCS in 1992. Whale watching is of particular importance to developing countries. Coastal communities have started to profit directly from the whales' presence, significantly adding to widespread support for protecting these animals from commercial whaling and other threats such as bycatch and ship strikes using the tools of marine protected areas and sanctuaries.
My Whale watching trip.
In February 2024, I booked a cruise around Hawaii and sailed to and around Alaska. While in Alaska, I had booked a whale-watching trip. I was lucky enough to see many whales on the trip, but not close up. Indeed, the closest whale I saw was before getting to Alaska, when I was on a snorkelling trip in Hawaii when a big humpback whale breached the water behind the boat, but I didn't have my camera ready to take a photo or video of it.
Video from my whale-watching trip in Alaska.