Good weather prevails over this holiday weekend, as plenty of passengers meant two boats! Straight offshore, west of Pinos, we found two famous humpback whales, “Angel Wing” and “Pockadot.” Snoozing, they lazily milled about, barely spending any time underwater and affording us great looks. After watching them for a good while, we left for our requisite exploratory adventure, which produced two more (massive) humpbacks. High flukers, they too gave us a good show. Finally out of time, we made way for Monterey Harbor, but the show was not over. Nearing Pt. Pinos, we stumbled into two more whales, which turned out to be Grey Whales! Our first Greys of the year, we can expect to see thousands more over the next few months. Grey Whale season has begun! For our second trip, the weather got even better: calmer, warmer… but alas, there was a trade off. The whales from the first trip had all but packed up and moved on, and it took us a bit longer than usual to find a whale. However, the lone humpback we did see gave us good looks, and was quickly followed up with a small pod of risso’s dolphin, who gleamed in the setting sun. Ultimately, a successful trip, and a beautiful day.
-Naturalist Isaiah
