Alex is a whale, Alex is a girl… Alex is a singing whale named after a girl who learned how to snorkel with the whales… The deep channels between Maui and Molokai can be the most dangerous channels in the world when conditions are rough. The wind can create enormous waves in this channel, waves capable of flipping sail boats and large vessels but in this infamous day in March, Makani ( the wind ) was not present and the water was Malia ( calm ).
The conditions were perfect for whale watching and also for exploring inaccessible areas of our islands, so we headed towards a beautiful rock formation towards the east side of Molokai.
This place is famous for having hammerheads sharks at a certain depth and its visited regularly by a few dive boats. It was the second day of our adventure and we had been looking for a singing whale to record as part of our research.
The way we look for singing whales is by dropping the hydrophone in the water and listen. We try to estimate the distance of the song, or the whale who is singing and we watch and see if any whales surface near by.
We dropped the hydrophone near that beautiful little Moku ( island ). It was a symphony underneath!
We could hear many whales singing but there was one song that was louder than all. It seemed at this time we had a singer near by and it appeared as if he was getting closer because the song was getting louder and louder.
One the things we enjoy doing in our trips is swimming in the deep blue sea surrounded by the songs of the humpbacks. We were not sure how close this singer was since we hadn’t seen it surface but we thought it would be a good chance to hear his singing and feel the vibration of the song in our bodies.
Alexandra is 21 and she is from Oregon. She is beautiful inside and out. It was her first time in Hawaii and her first time learning how to use a mask and snorkel. Granted this is not so hard to learn it was just such an amazing event to see our youth learn something new, enjoy it and appreciate it. Glen helped and tough Alexandra how to even free dive.
She became a pro in less than an hour. In the mean time us on the boat were noticing how loud the song was getting, we though for sure this whale was getting really close and he should surface soon since we had been enjoying his song for a good 20 minutes. Sure enough a black whale surfaced at about 200 yards from the boat. He quietly took one breath of air and dove down.
We observed that every time this whale would surface the loudest song would vanish and as soon as he dove down the closest and loudest song would begin. Our next task was to try to guess where the whale would surface the next time and photograph his tail.
By the way, did you know that only the male whales are singers? The females make noises but they don’t sing, only the boys do.
We observed this whale for over one hour and we recorded his wonderful strong song. We even had the opportunity to photograph the whale that came up for air every time the song stopped.
We cant say for sure that it was this specific whale who was singing but it appears this way to us.
The song of this whale was playing in the boat’s sound system so all of us could hear. It was beautiful to hear but it was even more beautiful to feel it resonate in your entire body.
Matt, Glenn and Alexandra had been in the water for a long time, they were having so much fun, I decided to join them in water. Its hard to explain how it feels to have the song of the whales resonate through your entire body. Being in the water near that singer was like being in a huge deep blue theater with the loudest surround sound system you have ever heard.
I could feel the sounds coming in to my body and then bouncing out. It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life.
Forty minutes of whale song and several fluke shots later we were al static about our time spent with this special whale who we decided to name Alex after Alexandra who was the first to see a whale with a all black tail come up for air in between songs. She was the spotter of Alex 
Rose and Glenn both got photographs of Alex’s tail and hopefully we can send this pictures to scientists who would most likely be able to tell us a little more about Alex.
Maybe we’ll find out if he’s a regular in Hawaiian waters or if he likes to visit other breeding grounds such as Mexico or perhaps he goes to California for a quick snack before Alaska.
We are looking forward to next years adventure and Journey with the Whale and we hope that perhaps you can be a participant next year.
Big Mahalo to Rose, Alexandra, Matt, David, Glenn, Lisa and Capt Keith for such an amazing experience.
Aloha