November 16th 2019 – Hungry Humpback Whales!

Our 9AM and 1:30PM trip both had to deal with poor visibility today but many whales and dolphins still made an appearance!  The 9AM got a great look at multiple humpback whales lunge feeding on huge schools of anchovies! Our population of humpback whales come towards the Monterey Bay area to feed upon anchovies and krill from spring till fall.

Some of our humpback whales have migrated towards their breeding grounds already. Areas such as Southern Baja California, Mexico, mainland Mexico and the offshore areas off the coast of Central America is where our population goes to mate and raise their young. The humpback whales still in the area are getting their last few meals in before the long journey South. Humpbacks generally consume most of their annual calorie intake in their feeding grounds since warmer breeding grounds tend to have less food density. It’s important for our whales to get a good blubber layer on them, because that blubber is their fuel for the migration South and other activities they will come across in the Southern seas. Female whales that could be pregnant need a good amount of nutrition to develop a healthy youngster. The females blubber layer also is broken down to become milk for its growing offspring. Male whales need to be fit and full of blubber because they have to compete with other males for weeks for the honor of mating with a female.

A humpback whale lunge feeding during our 9AM trip today. 11-16-2019