Patience has its rewards, so keep a watchful eye for that 'water vapor' raising up from the water. That is a whale's 'blow'. Adult males reach a length of 40 feet and weigh in at 40 tons. Humpback Whales can be identified by the markings and shape of their tails. These indentifying markings are as individual as our fingerprints.
Researchers take pictures of all whales sighted and catalog the pictures in large albums.
Each year they compare the new pictures to the ones previously catalog. They then can tell which whales are returning to Maui each year. One year they had sighted a specific whale in Baja California and then three weeks later the same whale was sighted in the waters around Maui. It was something that they had not expected. This is when a whale will hit the surface of the water with its tail in a slapping motion.