The Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary lies within the shallow warm waters surrounding the main Hawaiian Islands and constitutes one of the world's most important humpback whale habitats. Hawai‘i is the only state where humpback whales mate, calve, and nurse their young. Humpbacks, an endangered species, may find Hawai‘i suitable because of the warm waters, the underwater visibility, the variety of ocean depths, and the lack of natural predators.

Hawaii is believed to be home to the largest seasonal population of humpback whales, as now between 10,000 to 12,000 animals migrate here each winter.  Join us for this special presentation that will begin with an opening by sanctuary volunteer Alex Sheftic.  Mr. Sheftic has been assisting the sanctuary with their Sanctuary Ocean Count project for five years now as a site leader at Laupahoehoe.  He will share information on the sanctuary and Hawaii’s humpback whales prior to a special video presentation of Ocean Voyager, narrated by Meryl Streep.  This video tells the story of the humpbacks as it has never been told before.  Filmed primarily in the South Pacific, Ocean Voyager provides a startlingly intimate portrait of humpback life by telling the story of the relationship between a mother whale and her baby.  A portion of the video for this film was taken in Hawaii with the support of the sanctuary.