Today I was running a private charter with an amazing group of 30 people from Holiday Vacations, alongside Captain Danny and deckhand Andrew, aboard the New Horizon. We were facing a little bit of swell but nothing too crazy. Barely any wind and the sun was shining bright. We were looking forward to the day!
We pushed out west for about 45 minutes before we started to see whales. There were a good amount of groups to choose from today, and we decided to head towards a pair of whales that were sitting about a mile ahead of us. As we were approaching, we were surprised by a group of three popping up next to us! We slowed down to have a look at them, and they cruised right on past us, making our very first look pretty amazing.
We cruised along with these guys for a little bit, getting really nice views of them all. One whale split off from the group, but there was a still a pair that stayed really nice and consistent.
After some really nice looks, we decided to leave these whales be, and headed back into the bay to catch up with some dolphins. Soon enough, we came across an enormous pod of Risso’s Dolphins! These guys surrounded the boat and gave us really nice views as they surfaced close on both sides. We also caught a few brief glimpses of some Pacific White-Sided Dolphins, but they were all a little bit too fast for us to get photographs of.
We finished the trip off by stopping by another group of Humpback Whales. These guys were all feeding with large rafts of California Sea Lions! There were about 10 Humpback Whales all around us, and they gave us excellent views. We had big tail flukes, we had close passes, and we were very satisfied! About 6 individuals were all synced up, diving down together whenever the other 4 were up. This means we didn’t have to wait around while they were all diving, there were humpback whales constantly surfacing!
We were all super happy and headed back home to the dock so our new friends could continue their adventures around Monterey. Another successful day on the water!
Naturalist Pete Naik
