The humpbacks and sea lions are still on their feeding frenzy just a few miles out in front of Moss Landing. We had a little rain over the last few days, so we haven’t gone out. But we’re giving it another shot Saturday afternoon. And then again on Sunday.
Check out this cool video of a humpback lunge feeding right next to the boat:
The action continues just outside of Moss Landing Harbor. We’ve also been having regular sightings of Orcas. Conditions also continue to hold. We’ve been taking a couple of days a week off the water for maintenance, but the action still continues. We’ll see what happens today and report back tomorrow.
I knew we were off to a good start when I received a radio report of killer whales on the prowl just a few miles from the Moss Landing Harbor.
At one point, one of the large females swam by our boat with what looked like intestines coming out of each side of its mouth. Photo: Michael Sack, 11-16-2014.
But we took our time as we came across a chronic breacher. This whale just kept launching. Maybe 10-15 times as we approached. Of course as we got closer it decided to move on and stopped jumping.
So we decided to move on as well toward where the killer whales were. By this time I could see the other boats with the orcas slowly making their way in our direction. So things were looking good for getting in on some orca action.
This turned out to be an excellent orca encounter. But the sheer number of whales feeding together with the large number of sea lions is an incredible experience. At one point, we had the whole lot of them in coming directly at us.
It was like being in the path of a stampede of massive animals. The splashing of sea lions, the loud blasts of 10-15 whales coming within 20 yards and closing and then disappearing as they move past the stern and under the boat. Living the dream.
There seems to be no end in sight. Although the action has moved out a little further. We’re not seeing whales until we get about 4-miles out.
But most of the action has been about 6-7 miles southwest of Moss Landing.
After about 20 minutes of running we came across the unmistakable head of what looked like a young male elephant seal.
Usually we get a glimpse of them and then they’re down and that’s last we see of them. But I circled around anyways and this thing just came right up to us.
This was the first friendly elephant seal encounter I’ve had.
We’ve also been having regular common dolphin encounters. Today the water was very clear so we could see the dolphin about 8-10 under. There were at least 500 of them cruising around feeding with a couple of humpbacks.
There were scattered whales all throughout The Bay. We had reports from boats to the north that were also having an incredible show of many whales. And then there was the breaching. We had a couple of close up double breaches. This is when two whales simultaneously launch out of the water. It’s quite spectacular.
For the most part, the weather has been perfect. We did have to cancel a couple of trips of the last week or so. Â But epic fall conditions continue and more humpbacks and dolphins seem to be showing up.
Perfect conditions today. All day long. I had a short 1 hour private tour in the morning and nothing else scheduled for the rest of the day.
After getting out there and seeing non-stop surface lunge-feeding, perfect marine conditions, I was planning on getting back out as soon as possible after the short morning charter.
After I tied off, I hurried off to the Whole Enchilada Marketplace, picked up a sandwich and shoved off for a solo photo mission. The conditions were just too perfect.
As soon as I left the harbor I could tell the frenzy was still on. Birds, sea lions and the big fatty-head of the mighty humpback whale closing in on a 4,500+ LB day of feeding.
All within a few minutes of the harbor. The Moss Landing Whale park was in full-swing.
Epic fall conditions have prevailed over the last week. And the humpbacks are still feasting.
Today the whales were about 5-6 miles out. So we have been having to go out a little further lately. But they’ve been coming and going throughout the day. We’ll see them closer to shore at different times during the day.
Over the last week or so, they seem to go in and out ranging from just outside the harbor mouth to just over 6-miles out.
And there doesn’t seem to be any pattern. It’s pretty random actually.
The dolphin sightings have been fantastic. Today we had great looks at a mixed pod of about 500+ bow-riding common dolphins, Risso’s dolphins and a small group of about 25 northern right whale dolphins. The clear water and sunlight made the viewing even more spectacular as the common dolphins and northern right whale dolphins rode in our wake and in front of our bow.
The whole Monterey Bay whale watching fleet continues to come over to Moss Landing for the “Big Show” as the whale watching boat captains have been calling it. We talking 4-6 humpback whales feeding along side 200-300 sea lions. As we’ve mentioned, it’s quite a spectacle.
We also came across some krill today. So that was interesting. A late krill bloom? Who knows what that will bring.
Today was spectacular! We started with a few whale sightings close in then were lured out to a dolphin event. There were about a thousand long beaked common dolphins that rode our bow and wake and leaped out of the water over and over for about an hour. Then Risso’s dolphins came in and gave us great looks and to top it off a small pod of Northern Right Whale Dolphins rode our bow. What an exquisite treat! Back to the whales of which they were a bit scattered. We got the big prize just a few miles from Moss when we came upon a pair of breaching young humpbacks. They alternated breaching and pectoral fin slapping for another hour. A complete delight! There are still plenty of spots on our weekday trips this week and the conditions are lovely.