ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Northern Pacific humpback whales are starting to ditch Alaska's chilly waters for their wintering grounds in sultry Hawai'i. Migrating south with them are a flock of seasonal workers who winter in Hawai'i as well.

Many of them work on tour boats out of Whittier, Seward, Juneau and other Alaska ports during summer. When fall blows in, driving the whales and tourists south, the exodus of boat workers begins. The demographic profile tends to be single, young and childless.

"Most are just out of college and aren't quite ready to go to grad school or become adults yet," said Katie Davis, 25, of Mammoth, Calif.

Davis has spent two summers narrating wildlife cruises out of Juneau and Seward. She left Alaska this month and is vacationing in Nevada before returning to her winter job as a naturalist with Pacific Whale Foundation on Maui, a nonprofit that operates a whale-watching company.

She made $95 a day, plus tips, working for Kenai Fjords Tours and got subsidized housing from the company. In Maui, her salary is about $12 an hour, plus tips, Davis said.

The Alaska-Hawai'i seasonal lifestyle is not for everyone, Davis and others said, but it has lots of advantages.

"You get the best of both worlds. You're in both places during the prime season," said Tanya Shober, 31, of Frederick, Md.

Shober, who recently got her license to captain vessels up to 100 tons, such as small sightseeing boats, spent the past three winters working as a deckhand on tour boats in Maui and was completing her fourth summer with Kenai Fjords Tours in Seward.

"It's nice for people who are enthusiastic about whales and the environment. What better life can you have? And the climates are very complementary. After a winter in Hawai'i, the idea of going to Alaska where it's cooler is fun. And then once you're in Alaska in the fall, coming to Hawai'i where it's warm is great," said Anne Rillero, spokeswoman for the Pacific Whale Foundation.

Maui sees its first returning whales in late September. It generally takes them a month to six weeks to swim from Alaska, Rillero said. Right around now, as they do every year, Alaskans start calling or showing up for work, she said.

"They're very similar to the whales," Rillero said.

Like Davis, Ellen Burkowski, 29, worked for Kenai Fjords Tours in Seward this year as a deckhand. In other years, she took reservations for the company and did other customer-service work.

Although Burkowski recently bought a townhouse in Seward with her boyfriend and plans to stay put this winter, she's a veteran of the Alaska-Hawai'i shuffle.

"You make more money down on Maui during the whale season," she said.

But Alaskans are friendlier, she said, and housing is expensive on the Hawaiian island.

"It's rare to find a two-bedroom apartment for less than $1,200. Renting a room is at least $500 or $600," Davis said.

Many people double- or triple-up in rooms to save money, she and others said. Alaska-Hawai'i boat workers tend to run in the same circles and end up feeling like they're part of a community.

"It's almost like a transient family," Burkowski said.

This may be Davis' last winter in Maui. She's considering getting a graduate degree in marine-mammal science. But now that she's worked full time on boats for two years, Davis is close to having enough hours to qualify for a captain's license and is thinking about pursuing that. She would need to take a class and pass several tests.

Captains tend to make at least twice the money as deckhands, so getting a license makes sense, Davis said.

Shea McGrath, 27, of Portland, Ore., works as a first mate for Major Marine Tours in Whittier and was completing his seventh summer with the company. He's also worked in Maui as a deckhand and knows some of the same people that Davis, Shober and Burkowski do.

"You're always moving. You're never settled. But as long as I don't have a wife or kids or a mortgage payment, I might as well do it. I like seeing new places," McGrath said.

He spent last winter traveling in Central America. This winter, he plans to head to Thailand and Vietnam.

His buddy Morgan Wodhams, 25, a fellow Major Marine Tours employee, is going, too.

"We make enough money that we can play" during winter, McGrath said.

After Maui and before returning to Alaska, Davis said, she might meet up with them in Thailand. Others in the Maui-Alaska circuit are talking about it, too.

The key to making the lifestyle work lies in relishing change and not needing a lot of money or benefits, although Pacific Whale Foundation's spokeswoman said her organization provides health insurance and a retirement plan.

Some whale followers shift gears and do a Hawai'i-Colorado circuit, Rillero said.

"There's a lot of people who teach windsurfing in the summer in Maui and then skiing in the winter in Colorado," she said.

"It's great if you can make it work."