After a couple of rough days on The Bay, we got back into the swing of things with orcas, pacific white-sided dolphins, a black-footed albatross and happy humpbacks.
We came across these orcas early in the trip. But they were on the hunt and staying under; moving far in all directions. That made it hard to track them. So we decided to leave them and head offshore where we thought the humpbacks had moved out to. We found them about 13 miles out.
Right when we were getting on the scene, this humpback launched about 30 yards from the boat.
This was the same whale that breached. This animal kept “peck slapping” almost the whole time we were there. It appeared to be slapping the two other whales in the group. Not violently, more of firm pat. Very peculiar.
We had a good variety of behaviors today with these humpbacks.
The killer whales are on the hunt in the Monterey Bay. And their hitting their target: The northbound gray whale calves. This is the second attack and killing within the week.
There were also humpbacks in the immediate area that were interacting with the orcas.
This was an epic battle between a mother trying to save her calf and 10+ orcas needing to eat.
We had two rounds of killer whales today. First on our 10:00 AM trip and then again on our 3:00 pm trip. It was remarkable.
Likely one of the most incredible orca encounters we’ve ever had. Just remarkable. The day started out with anticipation. I got an early call from a fellow whale watching boat captain that he had a report of a large group of orcas making their way to toward Moss Landing at a high rate of speed from Point Pinos.
So we had the whole fleet keeping an eye out. But none of us ever found them. After an excellent day of humpback whales just outside the Moss Landing Harbor, we ended the trip and made our way to the dock.
After the passengers left the boat and we were cleaning up, I happened to have the radio on and overheard a local researcher talking about a large pod of orcas not far from Moss Landing.
Turns out that they were on a gray whale calf kill. So we quickly decided we were going to head back out and get in on the action. It was just me (captain Mike), Marine biologist and my partner Dorris Welch and Marine Biologist / Photographer Giancarlo Thomae. When we got on the scene, we were shocked.
There were orcas everywhere we looked. Confirmed to be over 30 orcas! Just remarkable. We stayed out until just before dark taking in this epic experience. Stay tuned for more more photos and video.
And now for something completely different. It’s been a while since we’ve had nice orca encounter. Over the last couple of months we’ve mainly been seeing one or two, maybe a few orcas. But today we had two different pods. While we watching this friendly group, another 3-4 orcas came blasting through the area at 8-10 knots.
We tried to keep up with them but they just kept heading in toward Moss Landing. And we weren’t ready to go in yet. So we let them go and went back to friendly pod.
We pretty well stayed with this group for the entire trip. They were quite entertaining and were not moving. So it was easy watching all the way around.
Our early of run of feeding humpbacks continue. We saw a massive school of anchovies pass under the boat today. The water was clear enough so that we were able to get a good look. They were likely being chased by the feasting humpback whale that had just sounded 25 yards off our starboard side. The Bay is happening right now.
Today was all about this surface lunging humpback. This animal was involved with a serious feeding frenzy. I mean seriously. This thing was surface lunging on anchovies about every 3-5 minutes for about 3 hours. Really neat to see. Just before a massive surface lunge, a 6′ diameter ball of anchovies would break the surface a few inches. That would be followed by gaping mouth of the mighty humpback whale.
Then there were the Pacific White-sided dolphins that seemed to be working the anchovies right alongside the humpback. At one point we got the boat underway and the Pacific White-sided dolphins started bow riding and launching along side us in our wake. Very cool.
We even came across an Olive Ridley turtle. They’re usually found quite a bit further south. They are known to nest on the beaches of Central America and Mexico.
And of course the perfect weather conditions made for a very pleasant trip and easy going.
Today was remarkable. We had an incredible Risso’s dolphin encounter. These things were behaving like bow riding common dolphins. Launching out of the water in groups of 4-5. Blasting along at 10 knots. Just incredible. Perfect conditions.
And then there were the humpbacks. We had this humpback floating just below the surface right off of our stern. The whale’s head was actually under the boat at one point. It was just floating there about 3′-4′ below the surface. And then it slowly sank out of sight and popped up about 20-yards to the southwest.
There have been between 6-10 humpback whales hanging out 4-5 miles outside of Moss Landing for the last couple of weeks. We’re also getting reports of more making their way from the south into The Bay. The Spring action is on.
We also had a report of “Chop Top” the orca cruising the area. We’re due for a heavy orca encounter. It’s getting to be that time of year again. When the gray whale mothers and calves start to make their way back from the birthing grounds in Baja to their feeding grounds up off of Alaska.
Speaking of Baja. I’ve been gone on and off since last September. On quite the sailing adventure down to the East Cape of Baja and back. It’s nice to have the sailboat back in Moss Landing and back to the amazing wildlife here.
Stay tuned for the Captain’s Log of Baja. It wasn’t all fun and games. Let me tell you.