06-30-2021: Humpbacks come and going with lots of other wildlife around!

June was definitely an interesting month. There were days like we’ve never seen and then days where we thought we were in the quieter off season. The whales have chasing the food up and down the central coast with fishermen reports of large groupings showing up in Pescadero, Bodega Bay, and elsewhere. Of course we have had our own surges in the bay (or just outside it) as well!

Last week we ventured out beyond the edge of the bay and came across over 30 humpbacks! The seas were rough, but the whales were every where, with some lunge feeding groups of 5-6 whales. It was a wonderful event that was rather short-lived as the next day the whales were spread out over a large distance. We think there are many animals out there, but it isn’t exactly close to the harbor, so it is taking us a longer time to transit out to those areas.

This has become rather typical for June where the whales aren’t as reliable as they are in spring and then again from July-November. We don’t know why that is, but it’s nature and it could change any year!

Besides whales, we have been seeing thousands of dolphins, including Risso’s, Pacific white-sided, northern right whales, and bottlenose. The dolphins have been phenomenal with lots of bow riding and surface action! Besides dolphins, we have also seen a variety of other wildlife from salmon sharks, great white sharks, puffins, sunfish, albatross, and so much more! We have not had many blue and fin whales around, it seems they too are either further offshore or up north a little ways according to the fishing boats. Killer whales made only a couple appearances this month, but all the sightings were the pods in transit, so no hunting events in the bay this June.

As July approaches, we can only hope the whales move closer in and that we will begin to see the massive lunge feeding events that we have become accustomed to! There seems to be lots of food around, so we imagine it is only a matter of time before more whales discover it and call more in. Come join us for the best of the summer whale watching!

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