Naturalist Blog

Humpback city! Captain JJ took us out barely 15 minutes before we already started seeing whales. With today’s lumpy seas, we were fortunate to not have to drive any further. All told, we saw at least 25 Humpback Whales, with occasional surface lunge feeds, close passes, and a lone harbor porpoise. I’m still struggling to understand where the time went; quality whales and quality passengers sure make it fly! -Naturalist Isaiah

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…

Deja-vu… or shall I say, Deja-Blue! A remarkable repeat of yesterday: Dozens of Humpback Whales at the beginning, friendly 2 Fin Whales out over the Canyon..  and just as the wind and clock decried our return, a single Blue Whale appeared just close enough for us to get a single, fantastic look and with even a rare fluke up dive as the jaws of oceanography and time snapped shut and we had to run on home, victorious. Just outside the harbor, a pod of roughly 150 Risso’s Dolphin appeared, which we watched until the wind caught up to us, and slid right on into the harbor. Oh yeah, a few harbor porpoise were sighted along the way (and were as elusive as they usually are). Overall, a stellar trip, and a one and done day. -Naturalist Isaiah

Bluuuuuueeeeee Whaaaaaaallllessss! As the powerful northwesterly winds continue to pound our coast, they also continue to serve as the physical mechanism for the nutrient rich coastal upwelling that fuels our ecosystems. As a result (amongst many) we have started to see Blue Whales  out over the canyon the last few days. Not only the Blues, but their slightly smaller cousins, Fin Whales have also made an appearance. Today, our morning trip started out with several Humpback Whales, scattered about the “shallows” just a few miles north of the harbor. Not long into our first sighting, a humpback breached right next to the boat: full body, massive hang time, and a big splash riled the crowd with a big collective “Woa!!!” We watched the animal for a few minutes longer, until the pressure started to rise (and the atmospheric pressure began…

Guess who’s back, back again? You guessed it: the wind. Stiff Northwesterlies greeted us almost immediately as we left the harbor, though with otherwise flat water, their effect was mostly only visual (small, frequent white caps and the occasional light spray over the bow). Undeterred, we soon reached the edge of the canyon, where many humpback whales were scattered around for various whale boats to see. We settled on a group of 2, which soon turned into a group of four… then six! Birds, and sealions, and clear water all mixed in and around to craft that classic “Safari” feel we love so much. Almost exactly at the same time we started to talk about moving on, the humpbacks flipped a certain, special switch… the simplicity of said switch’s name belies the gravity of it’s meaning. Friendly Whales. Ho man,…

Calm seas once again greeted us as we ventured out into the bay. Strangely enough, the dozens of humpbacks that had been roaming the near-coastal waters off the Peninsula have moved on, and taken their “normal” positions out along the edge of the canyon/shelf. Speaking of which, almost immediately upon reaching said edge, we came upon several humpback whales engaged in occasional surface feeding. With thousands of red necked phalaropes (a bird, not an insult) along with gulls and pelicans and shearwaters (more birds), throw in a fee dozen sea lions and relatively clear waters and I myself was pretty mesmerized. I swear, it was so calm you could almost hear the anchovies- never mind. After a while, the humpbacks settled down and their behavior changed towards “milling about” so we broke off and followed the canyon south. After a…

Calm seas! Calm seas! What great deed hath we fulfilled to be so graced with a literal sea of tranquility? Okay, “calm” is relative. As far as Monterey goes, and compared to the relentless  wind chop we’ve been seeing lately, today was dead calm. Oh yeah, we saw whales. Fin whales! Our morning trip came upon a group of 4, and let me tell you, they were the best four fin whales I have ever seen (in ten years of whaling). Slow, predictable, and “friendly,” the group spent an exorbitant amount of time at the surface, and made several CLOSE passes by the boat. Truly wonderful creatures. Suddenly, a red cloud appeared behind one of them: recycled krill, if you will! Moments after leaving the fin whales, a small pod of Risso’s Dolphin appeared, which we watch for a few minutes…

No words. Should have sent a poet… Where do I even begin? Let’s keep it simple. Our morning trip started out like every morning trip these last few weeks. Risso’s Dolphin continue to peruse the coastline just off Pacific Grove. Only a few miles north of there, dozens of humpback whales ravage the anchovies, and at one point we had a group of 8 humpbacks come together alongside the boat and with the occasional lunge feed. After checking the time, we were barely half way through the trip, and had already accumulated 10 trips worth of whale watching! Not content to sit around in one spot all day, we chose to venture west and have “a look around.” Just as we neared the edge of the continental shelf, we spotted several humpback blows and – no way – killer whales!…

Well, the wind came back. Luckily, an otherwise lack of considerable swells meant that the winds provided only a moderate lump for today’s trips. Three, to that matter! While dozens of humpback whales continue to ravage innumerable schools of anchovies, and close to the harbor, we had little trouble finding them. Additionally, our “resident” pod of Risso’s Dolphin (not trult resident, but they’ve been around a lot lately) continues to peruse the coastline just offshore from the Aquarium. Among their ranks, Casper, the albino continues to make the occasional appearance, granting our passengers the ability for forever say they have seen a white whale (dolphins are odontocetes: toothed whales). -Naturalist Isaiah

A breath of fresh air, or maybe a lack thereof! As strong, northwesterly winds have battered our coast these last two months, we have had to cancel our fair share of trips as ocean swells swell to a certain tempestuosity. However, these strong winds are a doubled edged sword; they are they physical mechanism that drives the nutrient rich coastal upwelling of deep, cold waters onto our coastline. These nutrients fuel phytoplankton blooms, which feed the massive schools of anchovies which bring in the Humpback Whales. Fresh air, huh? Today, the winds subsided, and Discovery whale watch was afforded a full day of intense whale watching with beautiful (read: calm) conditions. Both trips saw some 50-100 Risso’s Dolphin, and hoards of Humpback whales- not far north of the harbor. Just within our sighting area, we estimated roughly 30 humpbacks, which…

Our Sunday trips were marked with more big swell and consistent wind. The morning trip we spotted a few scattered Risso’s Dolphins and just as we made our way outside of the bay we found one young Humpback Whale that immediately breached right off our bow. The show continued for twenty minutes. A fantastic way to start our trip but also set the expectations high. Once the whale calmed down, we cruised for miles to the south west, then turned North to follow the edge of the canyon. After more than an hour of seeing no whales we were worried our early whale might be our last. As we eventually made our way back into Monterey bay we finally found more humpbacks spread out over a small area. As we moved into position with one we had a double breach…

Our Monday morning whale watch trip was a great success. The weather was nicer than expected as we embarked on our journey, and we quickly found Risso’s Dolphins a mile or two out of the harbor. The short stints of travel between sightings remained the trend for the rest of the trip. Humpback whales were all around our end of the bay with lots of sea lions and birds in the mix. While no doubt the anchovy were being slain by the thousands we saw no surface lunges, but the whales fluked up consistently to the oohing and aahing of our passengers. We beat the weather in and ended our trip with a sea shanty and high spirits. -Andrew B