Month: August 2012

08-30-2012 Humpbacks are back and showing off

What a difference a day makes. Once we got out to the deep water at the north slope of the canyon today we found the waters alive with life. The swarms of actively feeding birds were a telltale sign that the krill was blooming. Soon we had three humpback whales showing off in a big way. We were greeted with a double breaching young whale. As we eased up to the scene, this young whale decided to check us out and came right up to the boat, giving great views to all aboard. It was extra thrilling to watch it zoom right under the water’s surface alongside our boat. To complete the treat, the young whale enthusiastically lifted up its tail stock and whacked the water in a big way right next to us. We were then distracted by a large pod of Risso’s dolphins which also came right by the boat in an impressive display of speed and grace. Next stop was the other two whales that we had seen spyhopping and lungefeeding from a distance. What a rare sight to come upon them surface lungefeeding, exposing their huge mouths and ballooned out throats as they took mouthfuls of krill right at the surface and right near the boat. Passengers were just thrilled to look inside the massive mouths of the whales and see the pink palate and rows of brushy baleen. It was a good day of whale viewing. I must admit, though, that the birds were my highlight. An impressive black-footed albatross flew circles around the boat the even alighted on the water feet from us to give everyone the best views. Better yet, we came upon a full breeding plumage tufted puffin sitting on the water. This is a very rare sight for us on the bay of this normally more northern species. It posed for us giving all a fantastic view of this beautiful and comical looking seabird. As a biologist with a passion for birding, it made my day for sure! Time to get out there and greet the beautiful fall on the bay. See you out there…Dorris

08/27/2012 Blue and Fin Whales are back!

Yesterday we hit the jackpot with whale sightings and it was about time! We had three fin whales circling our boat, blue whales surfacing close by in clear water so the turquoise blue coloration really shone through the water. We also had humpback whales and fantastic Pacific white-sided dolphins. It was a great, but very long day, as we had to head outside of the bay and quite a ways south to meet up with the cetaceans.

The past few weeks have been a challenge as the few humpback whales were quite far out. Sometimes they put on a show, breaching and slapping and lunge feeding. Other times they acted like they were napping. We have had consistently great Risso’s dolphins encounters that knocked our socks off, however. There is a large nursery pod hanging out mid-bay that has been very active, with lots of breaching and head slaps this past week. The orcas have been almost common in the bay the last two weeks, with sightings every 2-3 days.

So, we are not complaining about our dear Mother Nature. It’s just that when the World News with Diane Sawyer and Good Morning America film crew came aboard last Thursday, our solo humpback whale would barely show itself. The dolphins were fantastic, however. Watch ABC News this week at 5:30 pm or Good Morning America at 7 am to catch us on national media. We don’t know what day it will air, but they promised it would.

The conditions have been calm and clear and now is the time to greet the fall out there on the bay in these best of marine conditions of the year. We hope this pattern of easy going boating continues through September and October along with a return of the big baleen whales.

08-14-2012: Two Different Pods of Orcas, A Feeding Blue Whale, Humpbacks, Risso’s Dolphins, Northern Right-whale Dolphins, Pacific White-sided Dolphins, a Mola Mola, Northern Fur Seal and more

Wow! What a difference a day makes. Just incredible. A full day of calm smooth conditions, plenty of animals. We came across a Mola Mola within 20-minutes of leaving the harbor. So that was good. It’s nice to break it up a little. Of course we also stopped to check out a friendly sea otter.

But the real action began well after another hour-plus of running when we got out into the whale grounds. We had reports of a blue whale and some humpbacks feeding. So we were on course for that when a another report came in that there were orcas on our same course just two miles ahead. So we picked up the pace and made way.

As we got on the scene we could see a couple of males and a few females with a young calf. The young calves have an orange shade in what will eventually become their white patches. After about a year, their orange patches begin to turn white.

The good news was that they were not spending much time under water. So we were getting great looks and great surface time. The bad news is that they were moving along briskly on a southbound course at five knots. So we followed them almost down to Cypress Point. We were twenty miles from port. We could only follow them so far south before it was time to go look for some baleen whales and make our way north back towards Moss Landing.

After about 20-minutes of running we came across the unmistakable dorsal fin of a male orca. It’s quite a rush when you come onto something like that. So we had a few nice looks. But these orcas were also heading south at brisk pace. So we just kept going in hopes of finding a humpback or blue whale.

Then another report came in about a feeding blue whale a half mile from our position. So of course, we made way in that direction.

Likely one of the best blue whale encounters we have had. Some nice surface feeding and we were observing the animals pectoral fin and the side of it’s tail fluke as it would repeatedly slow motion lunge on it’s side for krill between the surface and ten feet below. I could see the krill on our sonar.

There were also humpbacks in the area.

But we sure did cover a lot of water. It ended up being a six-hour trip because we had so much to see. Very nice day on The Bay. And it should just get nicer and nicer as we get closer to September.

My favorite days on The Bay are in September, October and November. Often calm and warm, excellent lighting with sunrise and sunset being particularly striking.

Hopefully the humpbacks will be chasing the anchovies into shallow waters. We’ve been seeing jumping anchovies pretty close in lately. So we’ll keep you updated.

 

 

08-13-2012: Far Out Humpbacks Heading South, Pacific White-sided Dolphins Running With Tuna

The last week has been difficult for whale watching. We’ve had some high winds and rough seas, making it hard to get out to where the whales seem to be right now. Which is a few miles outside The Bay. That’s 15+ miles from port for us.

However, it can change at any time. We could head out tomorrow and have humpbacks all around. You just never now. But over the last few days, the whales have not been close.

Today we covered a lot of water. Forty miles round trip in fact. I’m glad we found some whales after all that. The good thing about covering a lot of ocean is that you are more likely to see more species of marine life.

Today was a good example. Not far out the gate we came across a five foot Mola Mola (AKA The Giant Ocean Sunfish). So that was cool. But after that we were into it for about an hour and a half before we came on to the first spouts.

We had some great humpback whale tail fluke looks. After about thirty minutes of hanging with these humpbacks, we noticed some splashes in the distance and made a course. As we got closer, it was hard to tell what we had. We could definitely see small dolphin dorsal fins popping up periodically and then cruising along side of the boat and jumping out of the water. Considering we were in tuna water, it was quite a sight to behold. The water was very clear and blue.

And within 10 yards of the white-sideds, we saw the unmistakeable jumping fins of albacore moving in the same direction as the White-sideds. It was cool.

The humpbacks come and go this time of year. So we’re looking forward to more close in action as the anchovies move in as fall approaches.

Fall on the Monterey Bay is by far the best time to be out on the ocean. The conditions are often calm, sunny and warm. Stay tuned for updates on what we’re seeing out there.

08-07-2012: More of the Same Orcas from yesterday, Lumpy Conditions

Orcas on the hunt just outside of Moss Landing, CA. Photo: Sack, 08-07-2012

These orcas seem to be hanging around. They’re here feeding mostly on the sea lions and harbor seals. We’re starting to see the male sea lions making their way back from the breeding grounds in Southern California.

The weather has been a little unstable lately. The winds have been picking up in the afternoon, making afternoon trips rough going. But it’s good for the whales. Hopefully we get some nice krill blooms out the sun and wind forecast for the next couple of days.

08/05/2012 Orcas are the Highlight this Week

A young male orca on the prowl just outside of Moss Landing, CA Photo: Sack, 08-05-2012.

This past week has been up and down out there on the Bay. We’ve had nice calm conditions mostly and no thick fog. The humpbacks have been the star attraction earlier in the week, with fantastic surface lunge feeding not far from Moss Landing. At times the boat was surrounded by lunging whales, with their huge mouths gaping open showing off the broom-like baleen, their pink palates and their bulging pleated throats. It really has been thrilling to experience. At some points, we had them lunging within feet of our boat.
Surprise breaches have delighted our passengers (as well as crew!). One morning while we were searching the waters for whale blows, out of the blue a huge humpback whale bursted above the surface into a full body breach.We had no warning that a whale was anywhere near us, so this took us completely by surprise!

The blues have been few and far between this week. On Saturday, however, we had a nice close encounter with a large blue whale straight west of Moss Landing.It was feeding deep and making long fifteen minute dives. But when it surfaced, all aboard got great views of this massive, majestic animal.

The show-stealers have been Orcas. On Friday we ventured out West in search of more humpbacks and I caught the distinctive tall black dorsal fin of an Orca to the southwest. It was getting time to turn back towards port, but when there are killer whales on the horizon, we have to go for it! I’m sure glad we did, as this pod of seven Orcas put on a very nice show with breaches, spy hops, tail splashes and close swim-bys which delighted our passengers. It appeared that we found them just after a kill which always makes them more playful. We’ve have four Orca sightings this week (including today)! The pod visiting Monterey Bay is distinguished by the large male known as “Chop Top” due to his damaged dorsal fin. There is another very large adult bull along with several females and their young, including a baby that is still orangish buff (not yet white) and black.

Last but not least are the leatherback sea turtles that have come into the Bay to feed on the abundant jellies. These highly endangered sea turtles are just awesome to encounter. We are really on the search for them this coming week in collaboration with a Moss Landing Marine Lab researcher who hopes to place tags on some to record their behaviors. The first step is spotting them and we sure will be in search mode.

With the calm conditions predicted for this week, we plan on running 3 pm trips as well as our 10 am trips daily.