Incredible sightings today. It looks like the orcas are starting to come around regularly now. Early on into the trip we heard reports of orcas on a gray whale calf kill about 3-4 miles from the Moss Landing Harbor. So as soon as we left the harbor we knew we were in for a good trip. I set a course for the location of the killer whale action and bumped up the RPMs.
We didn’t get more than a mile or two before we started coming across the mighty blows of the humpback whale.
We stopped for a bit and had some nice looks at a few humpbacks. But we soon continued on the killer whale action.
On the way in we found ten humpback whales in a massive feeding frenzy along with hundreds of sea lions. Quite impressive. The last two days we have had great humpback displays within a mile of Moss with breaching, pec slapping and tail lobbing. Then there are the hundreds of Long Beaked Common dolphins feeding within a few miles of Moss daily. Did we mention the four blue whales that have been in the bay for four days straight feeding? It’s good out there now.
Check out some of the video we shot. Amazing out there today – as we exited the harbor mouth a lone humpback whale greeted us with a breach. This was a good sign.
Ten more minutes and we were with a pod of Orcas on the prowl. We were treated to multiple breaches by the youngest whale in the clan.
We were patient, waiting our turn to view them closer and letting the Monterey whale boats leave the scene. As soon as we were alone with the pod, they came right up to the boat and circled us within a few feet! It gets better. Up pops a large harbor seal and it swims right to our boat, hugging the side for protection.
The orcas were swarming and the seal along with the Sanctuary were the center of their attentions. This dramatic predator prey interaction played out as expected. The harbor seal became lunch for the Orcas and our passengers had the wildlife observation experience of a lifetime!
It’s hard to beat a good Orca event like this, but the show was not over. We ventured out further and found several huge blue whales inside the bay.
All aboard got many good looks at them as they turned and came towards Sanctuary. It was awesome! To top it all off, we had black footed albatrosses soaring around them. It was a good day.
The Monterey Bay marine life action is just starting to kick into high gear. We’ve been having 20-25 knot plus northwesterly winds in the afternoons and sunshine all day long. This creates what we call upwelling.
Upwelling is when the cooler, nutrient rich waters from the deeper waters (particularly along the ledges the Monterey Bay Submarine Canyon) reach the sun exposed upper stratus of the water column. Then, through photo-synthesis, we have these massive phytoplankton blooms. That’s what the krill eat. And of course, the humpbacks and blue whales feed on the krill.
Hopefully we’ll start seeing more surface krill blooms. We’ve already seen some scattered swarms. But not in big numbers.
As we get closer to June we should start to see more blue whales coming into The Bay as well. But for now, we’ve been seeing close in long-beaked common dolphins on every trip.
They’ve pretty much been hanging out feeding just outside of the harbor. We’ve also had feeding humpback whales just outside the Moss Landing Harbor. We haven’t had the kind of all day lunge-feeding we had a couple of days in March. But we have had some good breaching action and friendly behavior as well as the occasional surface lunge.
It’s also getting to be that time of year where we should start to see more orcas coming through.
In fact, I’m thinking of doing some early morning orca scouting trips for people who can’t get enough. Here’s the deal, if you are already going out on one of our other trips that day, we’ll throw in the 3-hour+ dawn-patrol orca scouting trip for $10.00 more. Likely smaller groups on these dawn patrol trips. We’re going to do them periodically but try and do them every Thursday and Friday. Email me at crew@sanctuarycruises.com if you’re interested.
The bay right outside Moss Landing was wild with marine life today! After watching a tight group of five humpbacks feeding within a mile of Moss and spending multiple bouts with hundreds of Long Beaked Common Dolphins milling about the boat, Dorris spotted a breacher to the west. Out we went and it sure was worth it! A few miles out we had a pair of very active humpbacks that breached, tail lobbed and pec slapped for a very long time. The five breaches near the boat for all to see was the big prize for today’s passengers! We are adding two hour trips at 2:30 now – so come on aboard!