The Whale & Dolphin Tracker app is designed to record on-water sightings of marine wildlife from locations worldwide.
The sightings map displayed here is user-generated and these sightings represent where users of the app are reporting their on-water sightings of whales and dolphins. This map displays the previous 7 days of sightings in near-real time and does not rely on tagged whales. The app is free to use and open to all users who would like to add their own whale and dolphin sightings when they are at-sea. You can use the species and date filters to view sightings from the past 12 months.
Download the app to stay up-to-date on the latest sightings
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Pacific Whale Foundation’s Whale & Dolphin Tracker app collects scientific data about marine wildlife from around the world.
Since 2001, our certified marine naturalists have been recording marine wildlife sightings through PacWhale Eco-Adventures. Our Whale & Dolphin Tracker is the latest iteration of this long-term monitoring program. We can now log GPS location, group dynamics, observed behaviors and other data in real time, which is uploaded instantly to our research database.
Members of the public can participate in our research as community scientists by using the Whale & Dolphin Tracker to submit marine wildlife sightings from locations worldwide. Whale & Dolphin Tracker allows you to log sightings in real time, create a full GPS track and upload photos from your mobile device. Your contributions are added to a global database that helps researchers track and monitor cetaceans, determine patterns of species distribution and study marine animal interactions with their environment.
Whale sightings in Maui typically occur between November and May. The best months to see whales is usually between mid-January and March as this is considered peak whalewatching season.
On occasion, we will have our first whale sighting as early as October or late September. That’s why we monitor our live-whale tracker closely and always tell guests to expect the unexpected.
As our whale tracker illustrates, the ‘Au‘au Channel between Maui, Moloka‘i and Lānaʻi is one of the best spots to see whales.
That said, whales can often be seen throughout Hawaiian waters, including from places such as Lahaina, Maʻalaea and Honolua Bay.
