Where the Wild Things Are?

A thought ran through my head recently- what if the whales don't come?  This is a frightening thought that has left many puzzled and anxiously awaiting their arrival.  The past month and a half has been a constant struggle to find whales to watch on the Kohala Coast.  It's a bizarre thing to think that they may not all show up because they cannot swim around or under the huge garbage patches in the Pacific, because they've lost their ability to navigate through the noisy ocean or because there aren't enough left (no longer in the humpback's case).  While this is mostly hypothetical at this point in time and it may just be coincidence that we are having a "slow" start to our season, it is quickly become more and more of a valid theory and on several levels has already been proven to be fact.  Our worst fears about these gentle giants may be coming true.     
As we sit here and wait, I cannot help but wonder what the future holds for these beauties and for ourselves.   It is outrageous to think we may have altered a migratory pattern that has been around for thousands of years simply because we don't clean up after ourselves.  Unfortunately the thing that has caught my attention the most is the future of this industry, how many more years will a job like mine be around (?) and about other industries that have been so heavily impacted due to lack of wild things around the world (the salmon industry comes to mind).  I wonder if people will one day say, "Do you remember when grandma and grandpa told us about going to Hawaii to see the humpback whales?  They said they were so awe-inspiring and majestic, their songs so beautiful.  I wish we had been around when they were."  It's a depressing thought, but I wonder if my kids will be able to experience seeing a whale, or hear them sing someday.  I really hope so.
While the winds have returned and the vog has cleared, we are slowly seeing whales returning to the Kohala Coast.  It has been a very slow start to the season and we do not know how long of a season we will be fortunate enough to have, but we are hoping for more whales every day.  The first calf of the season was seen outside of Puako about a week ago and it appeared to be happy and healthy swimming along with its mother.  There are hopefully thousands of expectant mothers making their migration to the Hawaiian islands as I type.  With the suspense building by the day, we are hoping for a few months of "whale soup season" and then back to the summer months of dolphins and diving.
Many alohas and well wishes for the new year from me to you.
Aloha nui loa,
M. 

~May every sunrise hold more promise and every sunset hold more peace~

First whale of my season, coming up to say hello and then waving goodbye.