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 away from them. Turns out a a active humpback was tail throwing and we cruised over to get a good look at it, the whale even did one nice breach as we got closer.
Did you know that blue whales can be recognized as individuals? We go by the shape of their dorsal fins and the blotches under the dorsal fin area.
A humpback whale shows its back lit flukes.
As we settled in while watching the active humpback whale we realized that more and more were in the area! Eventually about 1000 Pacific white-sided dolphins and a few Northern right whale dolphin came into the area also! Turns out a feeding frenzy was developing around us! We spent most of our time with the huge pods of dolphins around us and enjoyed them surfing our wake and bow riding.
To our surprise we got to see a unique raptor as we headed to our dock! Our passengers got to see a osprey fly above our harbor with a fish in its talon’s. The osprey is commonly seen near water since they are fish eaters.
A osprey sits on the mast of a ship in Monterey Harbor.
Great time on the water once again! Please come and join us soon!
Naturalist Eric Austin Yee
