Reports from our whale watching trips.

Check out our growing archive of sightings from previous months here:

December 2017

November 2017

October 2017

September 2017

August 2017

July 2017

June 2017

May 2017

April 2017

September 6th 2018

We had some surprise visitors today! After months without a sighting we came across a group of Common Dolphins! The name of the species is truly Common Dolphin – mostly because they are encountered in all the world’s oceans. We typically see them when sea temperatures rise in the bay. You are more likely to…

August 24th 2018

Sea conditions were gorgeous today! There was hardly any swell and no wind on the bay. Slater Moore joined us onboard this morning and made a vlog of today’s trip. We sighted scattered Humpbacks throughout the trips but a mom and calf pair stole the show. As we followed the mom and baby Humpback pair…

August 10th 2018 (Vlog)

It was a terrible day to be an anchovy! We had excellent lunge feeding on all three of our trips. The humpbacks were north along the sand dunes which made it easy to find them on all of our departures despite fog off and on all day. Slater Moore, our photographer, joined us for our…

July 30th 2018 (Vlog)

We found Humpbacks Whales north along the sand dunes today. The whales have been roaming this part of the coast most of the summer so far. When we left the harbor we entered some foggy conditions out on the bay. As we worked our way up the coast we encountered several areas where Humpbacks and…

July 25th 2018 (Vlog)

The Chubasco and the Sur Randy both went whale watching this morning. We started out with a nice sunny day at the wharf, but that quickly changed when got outside the harbor. We entered a thick fog bank and had quite a bit of swell to deal with while searching for whales. The vessels took…

July 18th 2018 (Vlog)

What a beautiful day in the bay. We observed five species of marine mammals once we left the harbor! We started our trip with Humpback Whales and California Sea Lions feeding together. Up next we had a large pod of Risso’s Dolphins (500-600 dolphins) with a small number of Pacific Whitesided Dolphins mixed in (30-40).…

July 16th 2018 (Vlog)

Earlier in the day we had observed Blue Whales and Humpbacks. So our photographer, Slater Moore, joined us for the afternoon tour. The Blue Whales had moved out of the area, but we still had an excellent viewing of Humpbacks. We observed lunge feeding behavior from the Humpbacks and they were joined by over a…

July 11th 2018 (Vlog)

Dolphins were the highlight of the day! We were watching a playful mom and calf Humpback Whale when suddenly a HUGE pod of Pacific Whitesided Dolphins came in the to the area. Mixed in with the Whitesides was another species dolphin as well – the Northern Right Whale Dolphin. The Northern Right Whale Dolphin is…

June 26th 2018 Nazca Booby Sighting! (Vlog)

Rare bird alert! We sighted a Nazca Booby today while out whale watching today. This bird is pretty far out of range from where it normally calls home. Nazca Boobies are native to the Galapagos and are typically sighted in the equatorial regions. We rarely encounter this type of bird in Monterey Bay, but it…

June 22nd 2018 Humpbacks (Vlog)

Despite leaving the dock with some dense fog we had an excellent day! Slater Moore was on board to capture some footage and create a vlog episode from the day. We usually get quite a few calls of concern on foggy mornings about the success of whale sightings. We usually have little concern for operating…

May 23rd 2018 Humpbacks & Risso’s (Vlog)

After a brief hiatus, Slater Moore is back at it with another vlog episode on one of our trips. We encountered a Mola mola or Ocean Sunfish, Humpback Whales and Risso’s Dolphins today. An excellent mix of species and nice sea conditions today too. The video footage of the Risso’s Dolphins is our favorite from…

Breaching Blue Whales for New Years!

WOW! What a way to ring in the new year! We received this photo late last night from one of our passenger’s on yesterday’s 10am trip. This is a BREACHING BLUE WHALE! It was taken from quite a distance; about half way through the breach, but incredible none the less. This behavior from a Blue…

Blue Whales continue in to Thanksgiving

What could have been a brief pit stop on the migration route, has turned in to a vacation for Blue Whales in Monterey. After eleven days straight, the Blues are still feasting in the bay! This is as good as summer time (better some years) whale watching! Blue Whales are very large animals and cannot…

Blue Whales and Fin Whales in November?!

We had a fantastic morning in Monterey Bay yesterday! Even though it’s late in the feeding season, we had three types of baleen whales in the bay. We have had numerous humpbacks for weeks but it was a real treat to see blue whales and fin whales. There were many krill eating birds in the…

9.28.17 Update – Killer Whales Galore!

Killer Whales Galore! September has been filled with sightings of Bigg’s or transient Killer Whales. We have mostly observed the same family pod since the 19th of this month. The main pod of 5 whales is identified as the 51A, 51A2, 51A3, 49C and 50B. These whales are loosely related and have been sighted all…

Lunge Feeding Humpbacks Vlog September 2017

Episode two from our in house photographer, Slater Moore. We had an incredible encounter with lunge feeding humpbacks! One surfacing, the whales lunged right next to the boat! This was definitely the encounter of a lifetime for our passengers. They do not always feed so close to the boat so, they did take us by…

Vlog & Trip Report September 2017

Our in house photographer, Slater Moore has been vlogging his experiences out on our trips! Check out his first episode where we encountered Killer Whales! We had seen Humpbacks previously in the trip and then made a 7 mile run to a report of a pod of Killer Whales. That was our main sighting of…

May 2017 Recap

Month two! Woohoo! This month brought us more diversity to our sightings, but we really had a hard time with the weather. May was our first month of offering Nature Cruises and Photography Tours – we learned a lot! The Nature Cruises are our go-to trip when weather conditions are severe, but as we prepare…

May 10 2017

Wednesday’s sunrise trip was another one for the books. It was overcast during sunrise which was an added challenge for our photographers – but we were treated to some surface behaviors first thing in the morning by a young Humpback. While out on the bay today we sighted 30 Humpback Whales, 2 Blue Whales, 20 Risso’s…

May 9 2017

Our afternoon trip today was filled with nice sightings. We ended up with 20 Humpbacks and 2 Harbor Porpoise while out on the bay. On our way back in to the harbor we sighted a small group of Risso’s Dolphins right in front of the breakwater.

May 8 2017

We had a nice variety of wildlife today. We passed up a few Humpbacks on our way to a reported Killer Whale sighting. We spent some time with a well known pod of Bigg’s Killer Whales the CA 51’s. The CA 51’s are a group of 4 Killer Whales – CA 51 is the matriarch,…

May 5 2017

Lunge feeding Humpback Whales continued today! There were over 40 whales feeding along the beaches north of Monterey harbor today. The weather was very nice this morning and the breeze was picking up by the end of the trip. It is always incredible to see Humpback Whales feeding at the surface in shallow water. Definitely…

May 4 2017

Amazing trip out there today! We had 20 Humpback Whales feeding along the beaches north of Monterey Harbor. The whales were lunging at the surface in pairs showing us their enormous mouths and throat pleats as they ate anchovies. Weather was a little foggy but sightings were fantastic.

May 3 2017

We had our first sunrise trip of the year! It was incredible to be out with the whales as the sun was coming up. The colors in the sky at sunrise were absolutely unbeatable. We had small groups of whales all along the beach from Monterey north to Moss Landing. At the head of the…

May 2 2017

We had a lovely morning trip today with calm seas on the Sur Randy. We sighted 15-20 Killer Whales, 30 Humpbacks, 100 Common Dolphins & 6 Black-footed Albatross on our 9am trip. The Killer Whales seemed to be feeding and socializing during our encounter. Often times families will share meals, which is something that is…

May 1 2017

Killer Whales again today on the 9am trip! When we first arrived on scene they appeared to be feeding, but we aren’t sure on what. There were over 20 Black-footed Albatross in the area as well, certainly attracted by the smell and left over food floating on the surface. Black-footed Albatross travel from the Northwest…

April 2017 Recap

April Recap Our first month in business! We didn’t get trips out every day this month but it was amazing how the whale watching grew for us over the course of just one month. It was another big spring season for Monterey Bay. April brought us sightings of Killer Whales, Gray Whales, Humpback Whales, a…

April 30 2017

Our most incredible trip yet! We came upon a dramatic scene of Killer Whales attacking a Gray Whale mother and calf pair just north of Marina, CA. After a long battle, the Killer Whales actually gave up and left the Gray Whales go. This is something we only see very rarely! The Gray Whale mother…

April 29 2017

We had an afternoon trip today at 1:30pm. Our sightings included 8 Humpback Whales and 150 Long-beaked Common Dolphins! One of the Humpback Whales we saw has a significant amount of damage to the fluke from a previous entanglement in fishing gear. Luckily it survived the encounter with what appears to be full function of the…

April 28 2017

We had a beautiful trip this morning. Our passengers were able to enjoy 150 Risso’s Dolphins, 150 Pacific White-sided Dolphins, and 12 Humpback Whales! Our local Humpback Whales continue to settle in to the bay for the spring and they will be here through the fall. We haven’t seen too many Risso’s Dolphins lately, so…

April 26 2017

Interesting interactions today! We came upon Killer Whales just after they had killed a Gray Whale calf this morning. This is the fourth calf taken this season in Monterey Bay by the California Bigg’s Killer Whale population. There were some familiar Killer Whales involved in the hunt today – Emma’s group, the CA 140’s were…

April 22 2017

A wonderful day with Killer Whales! This afternoon the weather was a little breezy, but we were able to get out in to the bay and see some great wildlife. We sighted 10 Bigg’s Killer Whales – always a crowd favorite! We also sighted a few Humpback Whales during our trip. Our drone pilot did get…

April 20 2017

A lovely day on the water! We were able to get two whale watch trips in today with great sightings of Humpback Whales. Our 9am trip sighted 19 Humpbacks and we had favorable weather, allowing our drone pilot to film from the air. You can check out the drone video on our Facebook page here. The…

April 15 2017

We had 8 whales this afternoon just north of Monterey Harbor. The sea conditions were pretty bouncy, but we still had a nice ride aboard the Chubasco for our passengers. We saw good amounts of bait fish (likely anchovies) on our depth sounder as we moved along the shore between Monterey and Marina. This is…

April 14 2017

Absolutely amazing day on the water today! There was a large scattering of humpback whales from Monterey to Marina near shore milling around. We saw big schools of fish on the depth sounder throughout the whole area. In total we sighted 19 humpback whales and 5 harbor porpoise. The harbor porpoise circled the boat once…

April 13 2017

Despite the rain and wind we were able to take a nice little group of passengers out to see whales this morning. In total we had 12 Humpbacks and 5 Harbor Porpoise on our 9am whale watch trip. Normally harbor porpoise are very elusive, but we actually had nice sightings of a few individuals and…

April 12 2017

A day for dolphins! We had an awesome encounter with a mixed species pod of dolphins in addition to our whale sightings today. While we can see dolphins often throughout the year, we do not see them every single trip, so each encounter is special and exciting. We had 6 Humpback Whales, 300 Northern right…

April 11 2017

A lovely morning on Monterey Bay. Today on our 10:00AM whale watch trip we had 1 Fin Whale, 1 Blue Whale, 5 Humpback Whales, and a Black-footed Albatross! We started the trip with a mellow pair of humpbacks who were practicing their synchronized swimming routine as they slowly surfaced together between dives. We also got a…

April 10 2017

Absolutely amazing start to our week! We had a lovely crowd on board the Sur Randy for both trips today. In the morning, the 10am whale watch trip saw 7 Gray Whales, 1 Humpback Whale, 3 Dall’s Porpoise, 1 Laysan Albatross and 1 Black-footed Albatross! The gray whales are heading north through Monterey Bay on…

April 9 2017

Our maiden voyage! We were able to take our first trip out this afternoon on the Sur Randy. We had a nice light crowd for the day and we enjoyed some humpback whales. Sea conditions were fairly unsettled and a but breezy, but the whales seemed to enjoy it. We were treated to several breaches…