5/17/22 “Risso’s and Lunge Feeds!”

We departed for our Tuesday whale watch this week promptly at 9am. We wasted no time getting out into the bay and quickly saw the blows of humpback whales. We stopped for the first one we reach and immediately had another appear within fifteen feet of our bow followed by another coming up off our port side. We enjoyed these whales for a few minutes before repeated breaching and tail slapping drew us further away. We made it to the active whale just in time to see a horizontal lunge feed. The whale’s activity died down right after so we pressed on.

We ended up following a trio of humpback whales that eventually crossed paths with another two. Just as they met, one of the whales gave us a big vertical lunge feed. After watching several more surfacing’s we decided to head to the shelter of the Monterey Peninsula in hopes of finding Dolphins and to give our seasick passengers some relief.

We ended up finding some friendly Risso’s Dolphins. There were roughly a hundred spread out along the shoreline of Pacific Grove, with smaller groups circling around us, spy hopping and head slapping right next to the boat. With everyone’s spirits a bit higher we cruised slowly back to the harbor, enjoying the calmer water, the beautiful coast line and a few dozen sea otters before we made it safely back home.

-Naturalist Andrew B