The morning was cold and gloomy as we embarked on our midweek whale watch. By the time we had made it to wharf 2 in Monterey Harbor, Capt Danny was already spotting dolphins. We cruised past our local rambunctious sea lions to look at a group of about 50 Risso’s Dolphin spread out. At first they were being a bit shy but within a few minutes we got great close passes, and with high hopes we headed out to the west to find their larger cousins.
Thirty minutes turned to 45, and 45 into an hour, until after an hour and a quarter we were as anxious as our passengers to be watching whales. After our long loop out west, we came back into the bay and at last found several humpback whales chasing their prey. As we sat and watch whales zig and zag around us more whales kept showing up until we had 12 within a half mile of us.
Just as the party started to break up and the animals began moving out of the area, one of the whales jumped out of the water a few hundred yards away. We moved in closer and watched excitedly at another 4 breaches. When the activity started to die down another whale close by began tail lobbing, tail slapping and pec slapping. Overall, another successful whale watching trip for the books.
-Naturalist Andrew B
