The 10am start to our winter whale watch season allows the crew more time in the morning to enjoy ourselves. This January in Monterey has been especially pleasant in regards to the weather and sea conditions, and as I went through my morning routine I wondered what our whale watching adventures held in store for us. The morning was warm and and the water calm in the harbor as I made my daily commute to work, and I had a great sense of anticipation that it would be a great day.
When 9:45 came around, we began our pre-whale watch orientation, and I could see that our guests were feeling the same excitement as me for our day on the water. I had several engaging conversations with different passengers as we cruised out west to find the Grey Whales amidst their epic migration southward. As we pushed a bit outside of Monterey Bay we readily found our leviathan travelers.
The highlight of the day was a group of seven Greys that gave us amazing looks before giving fluke up dives one after another. Just as we thought the show was over I heard Captain Danny shout, “whales 8 and 9 are up on our right hand side.” The passengers and I quickly made our way over to find a pair of off season humpbacks within twenty feet of our starboard bow. In classic fashion they stole the show just slightly away from their Grey Whale cousins.
Naturalist Andrew B