02-25-2024: Spring Action is On, Humpback Whales Show Up off Point Lobos, White-sided Dolphins, Northern Right Whale Dolphins, Northbound Gray Whales
The Spring action pretty much kicked off today. We came across a couple of humpback whales yesterday. But today they showed up in some decent numbers. We heard reports of 10 plus humpbacks lunge feeding. But by the time we got there they must have went through the school of anchovies they were feeding on. We ended up off Point Lobos, south of the Carmel Bay. The humpbacks were pretty well broken up into a couple of different pairs and with various blows northwest of us. But there was lots of life in the area. There was a mixed pod of 300-500 Pacific White-sided dolphins and Northern Right Whale dolphins. So that was very cool. Hopefully the humpbacks will start making their way closer to Moss Landing. We keep you updated.
Spring Action Starts to Heat Up, Humpback Whales, Dolphins and More
The Spring action is coming on strong with lots of humpbacks on the prowl just outside of the Moss Landing Harbor. Most of the Monterey boats are making the hour long boat ride to head north towards Moss Landing. On most trips we’re on the action within about 15-20 minutes. The Monterey Bay submarine canyon starts right at the mouth of our Harbor. The edges of the canyon is where we tend to see the most productivity. We had a great encounter with what seemed to be a playful and happy mother-calf pair basking in the abundance of the Monterey Bay.
03-30-2023: The Killer Whale Action Heats Up, Gray Whales Heading North
Incredible day on the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary yesterday. Excellent weather conditions as well. Sunny and glassy. Oh yeah. And then there were the killer whales. About 15 of them taking on two full-size gray whales. It was quite the spectacle. This is unusual in that we’ve never seen killer whales go full on predation mode against full-size gray whales. Always calves. So that was interesting.
We are still not sure if they were able to take them down. So far, no one has seen a carcass. So the gray whales may have escaped. Excellent start to the killer whale season. We expect to see more of these events from now until late May. So come on out and check out the action when you go See Monterey. It’s pretty incredible.
Friendly Humpback Whales Show up
It’s been amazing to have these humpbacks wanting to interact with the boats. It’s a pretty incredible experience.
Killer Whales Everyday This Week, Pissed off Humpbacks Chasing the Killer Whales
Killer whales all week long. We’re also having some of our best weather of the year. Check out this video of killer whales being chased by humpback whales:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BU4zZCVtHrM
09/14/2022- The Fall Feeding Frenzy is on
Lots of humpbacks in The Bay feeding right now. The weather conditions have been incredible.
07-26-2021: Humpbacks continue to put on a show!
The humpback whales continue to linger in the bay, giving us amazing views on almost every trip! We have been lucky to have multiple mom and calf pairs around Moss Landing, who always seem to know how to perform for the crowds. From breaching, tail-slapping, lunge feeding, and friendly behaviors, we have been seeing it all. Beyond the humpbacks, we have also had great looks at Risso’s dolphins, Pacific white-sided dolphins, blue whales, sunfish, puffins, albatross, and some other wildlife! The summer action couldn’t be better and now is definitely time to get on a boat and go see some whales!
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!
05-15-2021: Humpback Whales, Blue Whales, Fin Whales, and Orcas!
The past couple weeks have been superb with multiple whale species being spotted in the bay! We have been getting amazing encounters with so many whales it has been hard to keep track. The blue and fin whales have been further out on the edge of the bay feeding on krill, while around 60-100 humpbacks are roaming around all corners of the bay feeding on anchovies and krill. The orcas keep making appearances as well, even as we get towards the end of our spring orca season. We have also been having some nice encounters with dolphins including Risso’s, Pacific white-sided, and northern right whale dolphins! For you birders, we have also seen many black-footed albatross, sooty shearwaters, and even a couple tufted puffins.
On our photo workshop the other day we started the morning off with 4 fin whales and 3 blue whales who were fluking, giving the photographers amazing opportunities to capture rarely seen shots. After a few minutes of leaving that scene, we came across an incredibly active mother and calf humpback whale pair. The pair put on a show for over 3 hours and never stopped! We actually ran out of time and had to leave them behind as they continued the show. They breached around 350-400 times and also performed many other behaviors from tail-lobbing and pectoral-fin slapping.
The spring whale watching show is going strong and now is an incredible time to come out and witness all the wonderful marine life Monterey Bay has to offer!
NOTE: Our Facebook is still down, so please look for updates here or call us!
05-04-2021: Orcas, Humpbacks, and Dolphins Galore!
The action over the past month has been absolutely incredible. We had orcas almost every day in April and continue to see them into May as they patrol the bay looking for mother and calf gray whales. When they are not around, we have so much to look at, it is hard to complain. Over the past week, nearly 50-60 humpback whales have moved into the bay with thousands of dolphins joining them during the spring feeding frenzy.
The other week on our 8 hour photo workshop we even witnessed an entire gray whale calf hunt with 15 orcas involved. The intensity and power of the event is hard to fully appreciate as it can become overwhelming across all the senses. We hope the sightings keep getting better as we get closer to summer!
Please note as well that our Facebook page is temporarily down, so we hope to have it fixed soon!
03-24-2021: Friendly Gray Whale, Pacific White-sided Dolphins
March Highlights
We had an incredible day of whale watching! We started the morning with four killer whales right outside the harbor as they hunted, played, and socialized with the boat in glassy seas. Towards the afternoon, we encountered friendly humpback whales and multiple migrating gray whales. We also saw 10-15 albatross! www.sanctuarycruises.com
07-29-2020: The Humpback Whale Feeding Continues, More Playful Calves
Another incredible day of whale watching! We saw between 20-22+ humpback whales (all within one area, many more across the bay), Risso’s dolphins, and harbor porpoise!
While we saw many feeding groups of whales working with sea lions, we also saw lunge feeding, tail-slapping, and had many friendly/close passes!
One of the trip’s highlights was this calf who played with kelp (aka kelping) for nearly 20 minutes next to our boat. So much fun to watch!
11-03-2019: Breaching Humpbacks, Risso’s Dolphins
Check out some video from today:
The first couple of trips were quite different than our afternoon trip today. It was nice see some Risso’s dolphins early on into the first trip. But the whales were tough.
There were decent numbers within about four to five miles from the Moss Landing Harbor. But they were scattered far and wide in pairs. And they were staying down for a long time, coming up a 1/4 mile from where they went down. But we still had great looks.
Then as we were searching around on our afternoon trip. We noticed two whales on the horizon doing some chin slapping as they headed west. It’s an interesting to behavior to watch. They almost seem to be “porpoising” as they moved along to the west. Every 10-15 seconds they would pop the upper part of their bodies up out of the water as they moved forward. Slapping their chins down on the water as they swam.
Then once we got a little closer, they started breaching and barrel rolling among other hijinks.
The conditions have been incredible over the last couple of weeks. Beautiful, Fall conditions. Warm and glassy all day long with lots of feeding humpbacks. So far we’ve had the best whale watching all year long. We expect the action to continue through the end of November. There also have been blues and fin whales just outside The Bay.
10-04-2019: More Lunge-feeding Humpbacks In Front of Moss All Day Long, Sea Lions, Birds, Jellies and Mola Molas.
The action continues about four miles outside of the Moss Landing Harbor. Massive schools of anchovies have been seen throughout The Bay with scattered feeding aggregations of birds, sea lions, whales and dolphins. We’ve mainly been seeing Risso’s Dolphins.
And the weather continues to be stunning. Beautiful all day long until sunset. We have plenty of room on our sunset tour Saturday. It should be incredible. This is my favorite time of year for those sunset cruises. So nice.
10-03-2019: Epic, Sunny Conditions, Calm Water and Lunge-feeding Humpback Whales
Check out some video from today:
We’ve had nice Fall conditions over the last week or so. Hopefully it will continue. The conditions for the weekend look absolutely perfect. Lots of feeding whales showed up a few miles outside of the harbor.
We also had reports early on that there were feeding humpbacks about four miles from the harbor. So that was good. Lots of options. We jumped back and forth between a few different groups when we first got on the action.
Then about 4-6 humpbacks came together with about 200 sea lions, a few hundred birds and the feast began. It was a bad day to be an anchovy. Hopefully the feeding frenzy will continue through mid-November.
09-08-2019: Feeding Humpbacks, Sea Lions and Birds Outside the Moss Landing Harbor, Surprise Visit by the CA51 Killer Whales on 09-06-2019
Check out some video from the last few days:
The beautiful Fall conditions continue. We have had some days where the weather has been unstable with fog and wind, some pesky chop. But overall the conditions continue to get nicer as we move closer to October.
The humpback whale feeding frenzy seems to be ramping up. And we’re glad to report there have been about six to eight humpback whales feeding just outside the Moss Landing harbor for the last three or four days.
So it’s nice to be on the action within a few minutes of leaving the harbor. We’ve also had the occasional Risso’s dolphin and Pacific White-sided dolphin sightings. So that’s always a lot of fun.
And then there were the killer whales. The CA51 pod showed up right outside the harbor while we were hanging with humpbacks near the MLA buoy. We had fantastic looks. This is a very friendly pod that we see here in the Monterey Bay regularly.
They will usually give us a close swim by and take a look at us by swimming the length of the boat. Sometimes on their side with one of their eyes out of the water looking at us. It’s very cool. They’re one of my favorite pods. Stay tuned for further sightings. They were last seen heading south on 09-08-2019.
08-29-2019: Perfect Fall Conditions, Humpbacks Move Closer To Moss Landing, Feeding Frenzy Continues
Check out some video from today:
I would have to say that today was the best day of the year so far. Incredible conditions, 20-30 humpbacks, hundreds of sea lions and birds feeding in about a 2-3 mile area. After about a 20 minute boat ride from the Moss Landing Harbor, we were on the action.
These are the days we look forward to every Fall. Warm, glassy conditions all day long. And lots of feeding animals. We also heard a report of a lone blue whale about 18-miles out. The same report said there was lots of krill out there. So we’re going to be keeping an eye on that.
After very unstable weather and cold, foggy conditions for the last couple of weeks, it feels nice to be out there in a Tee shirt with warm and glassy conditions. Oh yeah. I look forward to this time every year.
September through the end of November is when we have some our best weather and best humpback whale feeding frenzies. The whales know they are not going to be eating much after November when they head down to their calving and breeding grounds down in Southern Mexico and even as far south as Central America off countries like Costa Rica.
There isn’t as much productivity down in those warmer waters as there is up here in the nutrient rich colder waters. So there are not the massive ball of small schooling fish like anchovies. So hopefully we’ll be in for some amazing conditions over the next two months as the feeding frenzy intensifies.
08-21-2019: Feeding Humpbacks and Sea Lions Seem to be Pushing Closer to Moss Landing
Check out some video from today:
The action continues. The amount of biomass interacting in the Monterey Bay ecosystem right now is astounding. Giant schools of anchovies can be found throughout The Bay with large groups whales, sea lions, birds, fish and more. And luckily, a lot of the action seems to be pushing northward closer to Moss Landing. Just incredible out there right now. Seems like we’re starting to get more and more Fall-like days.
08-19-2019: The Amazing Breaching Humpback Whale, More Humpbacks and Sea Lions Feeding Together
Check out some video from today:
We had excellent trips all day long today. We started out on the 08:00 am trip with a handful of humpback whales feeding with about 200 sea lions. We had some incredible close “swimbys” by very surface active humpbacks.
And they sure were not shy as they came up and swam right next to the boat, under the boat and around the boat. So that was nice.
The action just kept on going as we headed out for round two on our 11:00 am trip. More feeding sea lions and humpbacks. Some nice breaches from a mom and calf humpback whale and more close encounters.
The Fall conditions seem be here. Glassy, calm conditions expected for the next week. So we’ll be looking forward to that. And the lighting has been incredible. On round three for the 03:00 pm trip, it took us a little longer to get to the action.
The animals seemed to have broken up by the time we got back to the areas we were earlier. So we kept looking. It wasn’t long before we started to see blows to the west. So we made a course and enjoyed more humpbacks feeding with sea lions and more close swimbys.
Then we noticed a humpback out to the Northwest that breached a few times. Then a few more times. That’s when we made a course for the action. This was a classic display of chronic breaching. This humpback jumped for about an hour. Just incredible.