November 11th 2019 – Super Active Humpback Whales!
Our guest experienced great sightings on our 9AM and 1:30PM excursions today! Risso’s dolphins, blue whales and humpback whales were seen today, both trips got some close encounters with the larger whales. The highlight for today had to have been the super active humpback whales during our 1:30PM trip. Three humpback whales breached, tail slapped and did tail throws close to our boat. Many of these behaviors are still a mystery of the whale world, we don’t really know why whales do them. Some researchers have looked into certain behaviors like breaching and think that it could be a type of communication. Humpbacks can vocalize and be heard a great distance but certain factors like wind and swell can cut down the range of the vocalizations. Researchers noticed that when weather and sea conditions were poor, breaching was seen more…
November 10th 2019 – Orcas spotted today! The Amazing CA51 Pod!
Our 9AM trip got to look at one of the most popular pods of orca to visit the Monterey Bay area! The CA51 pod consist of 4 beautiful orca that have a reputation of being quite friendly and curious around boats. The CA51s are transient orca that specialize in feeding upon marine mammals. This pod has been seen feeding upon young gray whales and California sea lions during some of their recent visits. Today our animals seem to be traveling and did not appear to be interesting in a few California sea lions that they passed. The two large males of the CA51 pod, Bumper CA51C and Orion CA51B The two large males of the CA51 pod, Orion CA51B and Bumper CA51C Family portrait of the CA51 pod from a previous sighting in 2017.
November 9th 2019 – Close passes by Humpback Whales and Fin Whales!
Both our 9AM and 1:30PM trip had great encounters with whales today! Each trip had close passes by different species of whales. The 9AM trip saw 2 blue whales, 4 humpback whales and great close passes by 2 fin whales. The 2 fin whales passed so close, our passengers got to see their unique features,…
November 8 – Blue Whales, Fin Whales, and CLOSE UP Humpbacks!
We set out aboard the Pacifica with Captain Danny, deckhand Kevin, and myself (naturalist Pete). Our conditions were favourable today, as we met a very minimal swell with quite light wind throughout the day. Our morning trip started off right with a nice pod of Risso’s Dolphins directly outside the harbour! Nice! We continued pushing…
November 7 – Lunge-Feeding Humpbacks and Bow-Riding Dolphins!
DISCLAIMER: lots and lots and lots of photos in this one. We set sail on the Pacifica with Captain Rod, deckhand Alfredo, and myself (Naturalist Pete). We had an awesome boatload of fun people from all around the world, and we met pretty nice ocean conditions. A very small swell and light wind made for…
November 5th 2019 – Tons of Pacific white-sided dolphins!
I’m amazed that we are seeing blue whales for days in a row now! We started our 9AM trip with a blue that swam right towards us at one point. As we watched this blue whale circle us we saw a few other large blows towards our South but a large splash drew our attention…
November 4th 2019 – Great looks at the unique and unusual Northern right whale dolphin
Our hot streak of sighting blue whales continued today with an amazing look at 10 huge animals. The blue whales seemed to have been long winded today but when they did resurface it was often close to us. A lone humpback whale wandered amongst the blue whales but seemed shy so we let it be….
November 3rd 2019 – Six species of cetaceans in one trip!
The variety of wildlife that showed during our 9AM trip was off the charts!! Blue whales also continue their streak of showing up for our lucky guest. Our first stop earned us a look at two humpback whales, four blue whales and a single shy fin whale! It’s really rare that we get all these…
November 3 – Big, Tall, Blue Whale Flukes!!!
We had two boats going out this morning, and I was on the New Horizon with Captain Danny and deckhand Andrew. We had a little bit of weather. We had a small swell and a fair bit of easterly wind. The wind made a little bit of chop so it was a bit bouncy, but…
November 1 – Scratched up Humpbacks and Competitive Risso’s!
Captain Rod and I took out a light load of 13 passengers on the Pacifica this morning. We met really nice ocean conditions, a little bit of northerly wind but no swell. Today we decided to set sail up north towards Moss Landing and see what we could find. We came across a pair of…
October 31 – Sneaky Blue Whales and Lazy Humpbacks
Awesome conditions out there today as Captain Rod and I set sail on the Pacifica. What started out as a cold day ended up being too hot for me, and by the end of the day we were sailing on a flat calm sea. On our morning trip, we started off watching a couple of…
October 30 – Blues AND Humpbacks all day long!
Today we set sail aboard the New Horizon with Captain Danny, deckhand Reed, and myself (naturalist Pete). As we left in the morning the sea conditions were not too bad. A bit of wind coming from the North, and a pretty small swell. Over the next couple of hours, the wind picked up a bit…