The waters surrounding Maui, and Maui Nui, are known for the presence of humpbacks during the winter months. However, the Hawaiian spinner dolphins are also quite a sight to see.
In Hawaiian, nai`a means dolphins, and these beautiful animals can bee seen off quite often around Maui and off the coast of Lānaʻi .
I had the wonderful opportunity to spend a few days in the midst of the spinner dolphins and got to see the acrobatic behaviors, in which they get their name from.
When they jump into the air and spin, they can spin up to seven times before landing back in the water!
The baby spinner dolphins are the size of a football, so cute! This encounter in March, we saw over a hundred spinner dolphins in Manele Bay off the south side of Lānaʻi .
They were all surfacing at different times around the boat and spinning non stop!
In one of the photos is Haleakalā, house of the sun, towering in the background. Spinner dolphins are mesmerizing and I consider myself very lucky to have so many wonderful encounters.
-Elizabeth
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