QualGlasses

Paddling Among Giants

A fourth part of a mile off the west frontier of Maui, seated in the front of a two-person kayak, I glided across a vitreous sea, enjoying a Hawaiian dawning. The sun had just peaked over the mountains above Lahaina, bathing the Mild in soft pink medium of vision. The islands of Lanai and Molokai floated on the horizon, their rutted virid hills luminous and pellucid.

A hushed voice behind me uttered, “Right about here is where the whales cognate to hang out.”

I’d signed on for a tandem kayak skip with Richard Roshon. He’s been captivating visitors out for years to scrutinize the waters off Lahaina. From late November through May, when Arctic Pacific humpbacks assemble off Maui, his outings offer the potentiality of spotting the behemoth whales shut up, from water level, in completed silence. That’s why I was here.

I’d seen whales from big boats before. I’d always assumed a boat’s solid hull offered some security in the event that a wayward grappling-flap brushed against it, which I imagined was something resembling King Kong accidentally brushing his knee against a dwelling-place.

The idea of paddling among whales in something as tiny as a kayak was frightening—and alluring. Even by whale standards, humpbacks are big. They’re the fifth-largest whale assemblage and can grow to 45 feet and bear up up to 80,000 pounds. Richard’s Feathercraft kayak, by comparative estimate, is 20 feet drawn out and weighs 100 pounds. Attention humpbacks from such a tiny talent sounded like the raw material of childhood dreams, of eld folk tales, archetypal myths.

I met Richard in his Lahaina room a few blocks from the water. “I always of a piece to introduce myself and talk about the kayak at least a day before we seat of the brain out,” he explained, “and I default everyone to make sure this is the direct trip for them.”

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