02-25-2024: Spring Action is On, Humpback Whales Show Up off Point Lobos, White-sided Dolphins, Northern Right Whale Dolphins, Northbound Gray Whales

 

pacific white-sided dolphin
Pacific White-sided dolphin off of Point Lobos. Photo: Sack

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

 

Moss Landing Killer Whales

 

Killer whale attacks full-size gray whale off of Moss Landing.
Killer whale attacks full-size gray whale off of Moss Landing. Photo: Sack

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.

full-size gray whale off of Moss Landing.
Full-size gray whale fighting off a pod of about 15 killer whales off of Moss Landing. Photo: Sack

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.

 

Full-size gray whale fighting off a pod of about 15 killer whales off of Moss Landing. Photo: Sack
Full-size gray whale continues to fight off a pod of about 15 killer whales off of Moss Landing. Photo: Sack.

 

 

 

 

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

 

Moss Landing KIller Whales
These killer whales were being chased all around the area by a few full size humpback whales.

 

Moss Landing KIller Whales
This pod seemed to be teaching the younger calves how to hunt. They were playing with sea lion for twenty minutes.

 

Moss Landing Risso's Dolphin
Moss Landing Risso’s Dolphin breaching.

 

Casper the Friendly Risso's Dolphin
Casper the friendly dolphin has also been around.

 

Moss Landing Risso's dolphin calf.
Moss Landing Risso’s dolphin calf.
Moss Landing lunge feeding humpback whales
Moss Landing lunge feeding humpback whales

09/14/2022- The Fall Feeding Frenzy is on

Lots of humpbacks in The Bay feeding right now. The weather conditions have been incredible.

Massive humpback whale did a vertical lunge feed. It was closer than I was expecting, so I didn’t have time to zoom out. Photo: Sack
More lunge feeding. It was going on all day long. Photo: Sack
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These humpbacks know that they will not be eating much after December when they head south to their breeding and calving grounds in Southern Mexico and Costa Rica. The warmer water is not as productive for the type of foods that they eat. Which is mostly anchovies here in our area. So they’re on a feeding frenzy as they continue to build up their blubber layer. Photo: Sack
These animals where in full feeding frenzy on this day. Photo: Sack

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!

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!

www.sanctuarycruises.com

11-03-2019: Breaching Humpbacks, Risso’s Dolphins

Check out some video from today:

These two humpback whales were carrying on with all manner of hijinks: Tail slapping, rolling over on their backs, on their sides, breaching and close swimbys. These animals performed.

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.

These humpbacks didn’t stop jumping for about forty-five minutes. Incredible display.

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.

This humpback kept rolling over. In the above picture, the whale is on it’s back, with it’s pectoral fins out of the water. These pectoral fins can be 15-feet long on a full-size humpback.

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.

Risso’s Dolphin.