I am trying to plan a holiday to Kauai and Maui for next April. Will it be too late to see whales around April 9th to the 23rd? Also is that time still considered the winter season? I wanted to stay on the north shore but someone on this site said we would be better in the Poipu area which has less rain. Any comments? We are flexible and could go at another time but I thought it would be nice to go there around my husband's birthday.

This is from one site:
Whale season in Hawaii generally runs from December through mid-May, with the peak season occurring around January and February.

This is a lot better for whale info. It also has a section for watching whales from land.
http://www.activity-hawaii-travel-gu...ng-hawaii.html

Your best bet is before April 1. But some whales do stay until May.

If whales are really important to you, then I would suggest March. If whales are important, but just part of the trip, then April would be OK. The sooner in April, the better.

We were in Kauai April 15 through April 30 staying in Princeville and saw whales almost every day. Also the weather was perfect the entire stay. The only time we had any rain at all was a brief refreshing shower while we were hiking Sleeping Giant. This was our second trip to Kauai and the north shore will always be our choice of places to stay on Kauai.

There will definitely be whales in the Maui area, even in late April. There just will not be as many as there are in March or February. However, since April is the "tail end" of the mating season, the whales that are in Hawaii will be displaying more aggressive behavior. The males will be competing for a small number of females, so you will be more apt to see large competition pods with spectacular behaviors. We've seen males bang heads and scrape each other.

The whale watching companies (especially Pacific Whale Foundation and Ultimate Whale Watch) are really great about searching for whales at this time of year; they will find them for you.

Whales are not as plentiful in Kauai but you should see some. Many will be travelling north to Alaska at this time of year so they will be passing by Kauai.

The whales in Maui are still there to mate and ge their babies prepared for the long trip to Alaska. The mothers will be teaching the babies how to breach, spyhop, pec slap, and other whale behaviors.

Thank you for responding to my post. I am so excited!!! I just booked our trip today. We are going from April 1st to April 16th. We are going to Maui first for 7 days and then Kauai for the reminder of the time. Now I just can't wait and it is still over 7 mos away. Last time we went, we went in July and all we saw was lots and lots of turtles every morning when we had our coffee on our lanai. Talk about heaven. *sigh*

I was in Maui in mid-April and took a tour with Pacific Whale Foundation. It was great. Did not last long enough. It was about two hours. I could stay out there all day.

Saw a mother, calf, escort, and a challenger. It was really cool.

Went on the first tour. Believe it started at 8:30 in the morning. It was great. Caught some movie clips with my digital camera.