This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 8th, 2009 at 11:02 pm and is filed under About, Adventure Cruises, History, Information, Migration, Sites, Snorkeling, Snuba, Watching, Whales. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
What does ALOHA mean to you? For most mainland people, aloha means goodbye, or hello. For the people of Hawaii it could mean those words, but one may add love and caring. Many years ago the word’s meaning was broken down as this: A means light, enlightenment, or mana; LO on this earth; HA, through the living breath, or spirit of our Creator. So, when one said ALOHA, they literally meant “I greet God in you and you greet God in me. We are His family.” This explanation came from Inez Ashdown, co-founder of the Maui Historical Society and good friend of Queen Liliuokalani, the last reining monarch of the Hawaiian people.
Over time, many of the older meanings have been forgotten, but not lost. In highly valued archives the books, some written by missionaries, some by others and translated from the Hawaiian language, are intact and waiting to be read.
Our humpback whales are thinning out now and most have headed northward to find the fish they love to dine on. Once they are about halfway to Alaska they could snack on sardines and other oily fish. When they reach their destination, which is southeast Alaska, they will begin to feast, some eating about one ton per day. The Hawaiian channels feel very empty when the beloved whales are gone, but it will only be six or seven months time before they return. A few mothers with calves remain in the nursery areas lovingly taking care of their little ones and making sure all their needs are met. When ready the calves will be led by their mothers up to the feeding grounds, some being weaned on the way up and others weaned while learning to feed on krill, capelin, sandlance, herring, sardines and small salmon. Depending on gender, females mature before males, the calves will return to the breeding grounds in five to 10 years time.
So, it is with heavy hearts that we have to say ALOHA to our humpback whales, but in just a few short months we will be again saying ALOHA when they return. We all share this planet, and in that respect, we are family.
