It’s a bright morning at Lahaina’s Mala Wharf and an eager group of whale watchers are waiting for their vessel to approach.
“The pink boat’s coming in — once we’re all tied up, I’ll give you guys a wave to come on down,” says Captain Chrissy Lovitt.
Emma Nelson guides the boat alongside the pier as Lovitt shepherds the group aboard.
The married couple runs Maui Ocean Adventures, a Lahaina charter company that’s starting over after losing everything in the 2023 wildfires.
As she throttles up, Lovitt gives a safety briefing and gets to know her passengers.
“Anybody’s first time whale watching?” she asks, as a few raise their hands. Everyone cheers.
“We’re just scanning the horizon, looking for splashing, looking for spouts. Alright, let’s do it!”
This group is a mix of visitors and locals, including fire survivors.
“I just want to do something where it can be welcoming to the community,” explained Lovitt. “And speaking to some fire survivors, I'm like, ‘Have you gone on a whale watch?’ And they say, ‘No, I'm saving all my money. I could use that money for a shower curtain [or] to rebuild my house.’”
Lovitt wanted to help.
“So I just thought if I saved some seats every trip and blocked it out for the fire survivors, they can get out,” she said. “It’s really enjoyable — these creatures, these humpbacks are really amazing, and they're curious, and just a good way to forget about your stress for two hours.”
Lovitt knows firsthand about the healing power of being on the water. She and Nelson are fire survivors themselves.
They opened their business just two weeks before the Aug. 8 wildfire swept through Lahaina.
They lost their new charter boat to the flames as they helped dozens of people who had jumped into the harbor to escape the blaze.
“We were in the harbor when the fire happened, and my first instinct was to get my boat out and drive away,” Lovitt recalled. “In the 100-mile-an-hour winds though, I saw that there were a lot of people that were as confused and as scared as I was when the fire was happening, so I grabbed a small boat to get the people out, with the plan to come back for our boat. But fire was too fast, and it took the harbor.”
“But we ended up saving about 40 people that day, shuttling them out and pulling kids out of the water,” she added.
With their knowledge of the reef area, the pair worked with the Coast Guard, using a small skiff to help survivors where the larger vessels couldn’t reach.
“These are people that we know in the community — and you're feeling this overwhelming sense of like dread and sadness because you're gonna lose your boat, but in the moment, it doesn't matter, because material things can be replaced.”
After the fire, Lovitt and Nelson saved every penny for a new boat, refurbished it themselves in just two weeks and rebuilt the business. The boat is painted bright pink — the only vessel with that color scheme in the state, said Lovitt — and nicknamed Macy, after one of their beloved golden retrievers (who often join trips on the water).
Maui Ocean Adventures reopened for its first charter on Dec. 7.
Before launching their charter business, Lovitt worked for nearly 20 years as captain of the Moloka’i ferry before it shut down in 2016. She has a background in mechanical engineering, while Nelson studied marine science and previously worked on research vessels.
“I can tell her about screws and machines, and she can tell me about the genetic profile of whales,” Lovitt laughed.
Aboard the boat, Nelson shares a wealth of information about humpbacks.
The whales migrate from their feeding grounds in Alaska, to Hawaiʻi’s warm waters for the winter months to breed and birth their calves.
“These animals are 3,000 miles away from their last and their next meal, which is remarkable,” Nelson explained. “They have to swim back before they're able to replenish any of those calories so I mean, I wouldn't be able to do it! Some of them are going three-plus months without eating. So it's a remarkable journey.”
Off the boat’s deck with Lahaina’s burned landscape in the background, a mother and baby humpback surface together, taking breaths as the month-old calf learns to maneuver. Whale watchers gasp in delight.
Vida Allen, a Lahaina resident of nearly 30 years, said she’ll be highly recommending this experience.
“With this company and these girls and this boat — the best [whale-watching] I’ve been on. They’re helping the community with the fire survivors,” she said. “This pink boat is so smooth, I love it. I’ll be out again and again and again.”
And while Lovitt and Nelson don’t have to travel 3,000 miles for the next meal, they, too, have been on a remarkable journey.
