Zay has returned. Two months of Covid-19 refuge in the Hawaiian islands has sent me back to the mainland with a fire inside, rekindled and emblazoned anew. As the tides of pandemic recede, tourism returns to Monterey, and we the whale fleet are finally feeling the relief of steady business. Just in time; the…
I don’t even know where to start for the day! Could it be the pod of 3 Killer Whales? Maybe. Could it be the friendly little Gray Whale? Maybe? Could it be the Risso’s dolphins? Maybe. Or was it just the amazing weather we had on a winter day? Any ways I’ll Just start from…
2020 has come to an end. We experienced losses and shut downs and also some incredible sightings out on the water. We wouldn’t be where we are today with out our wonderful team here at Discovery and with out all of you who have supported us and shown us so much love. Thank you from…
A fitting end for 2020. What else could one expect from such a tumultuous year, than a skunked trip? Indeed, Captain Jared bravely led the Pacifica out into the bay, and while a total of four separate whale boats search Monterey Bay, far and wide, things were slick from the start. Early on, a Northwest…
Today was a special day (though what day isn’t special when you work on a whale watching boat?). Captain and Co-owner of Discovery Whale Watch John Mayer took the helm on this fine winter morning: noteworthy, as running the business and readying our new boat keeps him quite busy these days. A man of considerable…
As most humpback whales migrate out of area, we anticipate the arrival of these magnificent creatures. Gray whales migrate in great numbers past our area to head to their warm breeding grounds in the middle of the Baja California Peninsula. Around mid-February we will already see a few grays heading back up to their Northern…
Killer Killer Whales. T’was a beautiful morning yesterday, as Captain Danny led us “South” (as opposed to North). Goin’ South. as we say, is quite the treat; Monterey’s rugged coastline offers a spectacular back drop that gets better and better the farther you go. Just as we passed Cypress Point (the northern boundary of Carmel…
Today’s trip was simply incredible, but in a subtle way. We saw a few hundred Risso’s Dolphin, and we saw a handful of whales. No breaches, no backflips. Just honest good looks, and a lot of Mastery in Captain Danny’s orchestration of the trip. At one point, a small child shouted out to a humpback,…
This is getting ridiculous. Trip after trip, and the running streak of high quality trips continue. Thursday morning, I returned from Moab, Utah to be greeted by a pod of (well over) two thousand dolphin, the vast majority of which were Risso’s Dolphin. Deep divers: they roam the edges of the continental shelf, hunting squid…
Have you noticed that a humpback whale’s head is really bumpy?! The dark bumps you see are called tubercles, they are a large hair follicle that covers the humpback’s rostrum. Nerves are within the tubercle and a short hair can also protrude from it. Many researchers believe that humpbacks could be using the tubercles to…