Month: June 2015

06-29-2015: Six to Eight Humpbacks in front of Moss, Close up Tail-lobber, Sea Otters and a Massive Mola Mola

Moss Landing Humpback Whale
Moss Landing humpback whale takes a dive. Photo: Michael Sack, www.sanctuarycruises.com.

Marine conditions were not ideal today. Early on as we left the harbor visibility was poor. We had some solid patches of dense fog. So that’s never good. We used to get worried when we had dense fog.

Moss Landing Humpback Whale
Tail-lobbing, tail-slapping humpback whale. This whale repeatedly slapped it’s tail on the water. Photo: Chace Decker, www.sanctuarycruises.com 06.30.2015.

But lately, because the 6-8 humpbacks have been consistently in the same area, we can usually find them. Even if we need to turn off the engines and listen and then move in the general direction of where we hear blows. We’ve found whales in fog on more than one occasion using this technique.

Moss Landing Humpback Whale
Humpbacks on the prowl. Photo: Michael Sack, www.sanctuarycruises.com 06-28-2015.

Luckily is wasn’t long before a brisk wind blew the fog away. But with the wind came some pretty lumpy conditions. It was manageable, but a pesky 1′-3′ wind chop made for some rocking and rolling.

Moss Landing harbor Seal
Moss Landing harbor Seal. Photo: Sack, www.sanctuarycruises.com 06-28-2015

The good news is that we had about 6-8 whales right out in front of the Moss Landing Harbor. One of them was putting on a show with massive tail lobs and tail slaps.

Moss Landing humpback whale
Moss Landing humpbacks going down for some deep feeding. Photo: Michael Sack, www.sanctuarycruises.com 06-28-2015

Then on our way back in, we got up-close personal with a 6-foot mola mola and a baby mola only about 1 foot diameter.

Moss Landing Mola Mola
The Mola Mola. We’re starting to see more and more. Photo: Michael Sack, www.sanctuarycruises.com

 

Moss Landing Sea Otter
Moss Landing female sea otter feasting on a crab. We can tell she is a female by her discolored and scarred nose. During mating, the males clamp on to the female’s nose with their teeth. It’s kind of brutal. But that seem’s to be how they do it. Photo: Michael Sack, www.sanctuarycruises.com

Of course we always love to see the Southern sea otter. We almost always get great looks at these cute animals. After all, Moss Landing is the center of their range.

06-26-2015: Humpbacks Still Just Outside Moss Landing, One Lone Orca Yesterday

Moss Landing Killer Whale
A lone killer whale shows up just outside of Moss Landing Harbor. Photo: Michael Sack, www.sanctuarycruises.com 06-25-2015.

The Moss Landing Humpback whale action continues just outside of our harbor. Early in the trip we had one humpback less than a mile from the harbor. We tracked this lone humpback for about 45 minutes before heading out to the west in hopes of finding more whales, dolphins or maybe even orcas. We never really know unless we head out.

Moss Landing Killer Whale
We saw a big splash and noticed a slick. So we know this animal was actively hunting. Photo: Michael
Sack, www.sanctuarycruises.com

After about about twenty minutes of cruising we started to see blows and then tail lobs and breaches. So we were onto some active whales.

Moss Landing Humpback Whales
All the action has been within a few miles of the Moss Landing Harbor. Photo: Michael Sack, www.sanctuarycruises.com 06-25.

But of course as not long after we got on the scene they seemed to have taken a break. But we did get to see a few close up tail-lobs.

Moss Landing Sea Otter
One of our local residents, Moss Landing “A” dock. Photo: Michael Sack, 06-26-2015.

Yesterday we had a killer whale a few miles out from the harbor. So that was a nice break from humpbacks. Especially when the 20’+ animal made a course for us and submerged under the boat just a few feet from us, popping up on the other side.

06-24-2015: Moss Landing Remains the Hotspot for Humpbacks

Moss Landing Humpback Whales
A humpback whale goes for a deep dive out in front of Moss Landing Harbor. Photo: Michael Sack 06-24-2015

Nothing new to report really. Six to eight humpbacks continue feasting on the abundant anchovies just outside of the Moss Landing Harbor. They have been doing pretty routine humpback whale behavior. Basically going down and coming up. Seem to be either feeding deep or in search mode. We have some long dive cycles lately. But when they come up we’ve been getting some great looks.

Moss Landing Elephant Seal
We had a great look at this female elephant seal. Photo: Michael Sack, 06-24-2015.

Still no reports of much else in The Bay. We did hear some reports today of a small group of Risso’s dolphins and another report of a small group of pacific white-sided dolphins quite a bit further out.

Moss Landing Humpback Whale
More deep diving. Photo: Sack, www.sanctuarycruises.com 06-24-2015.

We’ve still been doing some exploration runs as we head out four-five miles. We have ran across some Mola Molas  and the occasional elephant seal. We have also been seeing a lot of “egg yolk” jellies. But not much else.

Moss Landing Humpback Whales
And down they go. Photo: Michael Sack, www.sanctuarycruises.com. 06-21-2015.

Conditions have been nice in the morning. And we expect that to be the case for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. But we never really know with the weather.

06-19-2015: Moss Landing Humpbacks Still the Main Show in Monterey Bay

Moss Landing Pacific White-sided Dolphin
One of about 200-300 Pacific White-sided dolphins. It’s always fun when they ride along all around the boat. Photo: Michael Sack, www.sanctuarycruises.com 06-19-2015.

Two miles outside of Moss Landing Harbor continues to be where the main action is on the Monterey Bay. Most of the whale boats from Monterey and Santa Cruz continue to make their way over to Moss Landing for the big show.

Moss Landing Humpback Whale
Humpback whale takes a dive right out in front of Moss Landing. Photo: Michael Sack, www.sanctuarycruises.com 06-19-2015.

As usual, by the time we got to the the jetties at the Moss Landing Harbor mouth today, we were already seeing  blows. So the plan has been to get on a nice group of humpbacks and hope they do something interesting.

Moss Landing Pacific White-sided Dolphin
It was nice to see a large a group of pacific white-sided dolphins. It’s been a while since we’ve seen this large of a group. Photo: Michael Sack, www.sanctuarycruises.com 06-19-2015

 

We’ve been getting the occasional tail-lobber or breacher. But for the most part, the interesting encounters were groups of six-eight humpbacks cruising, diving and feeding together just a few feet from each other. After an hour or so we heard reports of Pacific White-sided dolphins about 3-4 miles away.  And what with all the boats in the entire whale watching fleet right out in front of Moss Landing, I figured we did’t want to crowd the animals, so we made a course for the pacific white-sided dolphins.

Moss Landing Humpback Whales
This was a few of about six to eight humpbacks that were feeding together. Photo: Michael Sack, www.sanctuarycruises.com 06-19-2015.

I was sure we were going to get to them. They were reported to have changed course and were now moving away from us to the west. But we kept going and eventually caught up to them. So it was worth the extra 40-minutes of travel time out there.

We have not heard any recent reports of concentrations of animals in other parts of The Bay. So it continues to be Moss Landing for most of the action.

06-18-2015: Humpbacks Still in Holding Pattern Just outside of Moss Landing

Moss Landing Humpback Whale
Humpback whale does some tail slapping. Photo: Michael Sack, www.sanctuarycruises.com, 06-18-2015.

We didn’t have an active group of whales today, we had decent numbers. They seemed to be in search mode. Doing some long dives.

Check out this video from a couple of days ago:

 

Moss Landing Cormorants
A cormorant feeds her chick.

Every once in a while they would come across some shallow anchovies and stay up for a bit.

06-17-2015: Six-Eight Humpbacks Feeding Again Just Outside Moss Landing Harbor

Here’s some video from a couple of days ago:

The humpbacks seem to be in a holding pattern. Most of the whales seem to be just outside the Moss Landing Harbor. Lately when we head out a little further to do some exploring we’re still not finding much. So the action continues to be just outside the harbor.

If you’re going whale watching on The Monterey Bay, it’s very likely that you will end up in front of Moss Landing. Whether you go out of Santa Cruz or Monterey, all the boats are pretty much coming over to Moss Landing.

We have plenty of room on our Friday 10:30 AM trip, our 08:00 AM weekend trips and 10:30 trip on Saturday. Smaller groups and more facetime with the whales.

06-16-2015: Humpbacks Comming up and Going Down Right Outside Moss

Moss Landing Kayak Whale Watching
Dave Grigsby of the Kayak Connection out for a paddle. Humpbacks have been just outside the harbor over the last couple of days. Photo: Michael Sack, www.sanctuarycruises.com 06-16-2015.

The humpback whale action continues to be just outside of the Moss Landing Harbor. We haven’t been seeing many dolphins lately. They must have found another place feed over the last week or so.

Moss Landing Harbor Seal
We’ve been seeing this harbor seal pup foraging just outside the harbor mouth. Photo: Michael Sack, www.sanctuarycruises.com 06-16-2015

 

We’ve still been heading out about 3-4 miles to take a look around and haven’t seen much. In fact, there’s been nothing outside of Moss Landing.

Moss Landing Kayak Whale Watching
More kayak whale watching. Photo: Michael Sack, www.sanctuarycruises.com 06-17-2015.

All the action has been right out in front of the Moss Landing Harbor. The salmon fishing has picked over the last week or so. That has caused quite the flotilla right in the middle of it all.

Moss Landing Salmon
Moss Landing salmon fisherman Eric Mailander and Giancarlo Thomae land a nice salmon. Photo: Michael Sack, www.sanctuarycruises.com 06-16-2015.

Today the whales were pretty much just going down and coming up, giving us the occasional tail fluke. Pretty routine. They were also staying under for longer. That leads me to believe they were down there doing more searching  or deeper feeding.

Moss Landing Harbor Seal
Another Moss Landing harbor seal. Photo: Michael Sack, www.sanctuarycruises.com. 06-16-2015.

We had a few almost 10-minute divers. Then they would often pop up a half mile away from where they went down.

06-15-2015: Lively Mother and Calf Humpbacks, Lunge-feeding Molas Sea Otters and More

Moss Landing Mola Mola
The Mola Mola. This one was about 3′ in diameter. We’ve been seeing them eating velella velellas at the surface. It’s not quite as dramatic as lunge-feeding humpbacks, but still amusing. Photo: Michael Sack, www.sanctuarycruises.com 06-14-2015

We’re starting see more mola molas in The Bay. Also known as the “giant ocean sunfish.” These animals can get to be over eight feet in diameter. Most of the ones see are in the two to five foot range.

Moss Landing Breaching Humpback Whale
It often seems to be the young calves who get lively. Photo: Michael Sack, www.sanctuarycruises.com 06-14-2015.

The molas mainly feed on jellies. But lately we’ve been seeing them feeding on the velella velellas, AKA “by the wind sailors.”

Moss Landing Humpback Whale
This is the mother. Photo: Michael Sack, www.sanctuarycruises.com 06-14-2015.

The humpback action was all around. Mostly close in just outside of the harbor. On our three to four hour trips we have been doing a little exploring.

Moss Landing Sea Otter
Their paws are on the areas on their body that is not covered in fur. This is keeping its paws warm by holding them up to fur on it’s upper jaw. Photo: Michael Sack, www.sanctuarycruises.com 06-14-2015
Moss Landing Humpback Whale
Humpback whale just outside of Moss Landing. The building in the background is Moss Landing Marine Lab. Photo: Michael Sack, www.sanctuarycruses.com

Today we headed out about 4-miles and didn’t see anything out there. All the action seems to be right out in front in Moss Landing.

06-13-2015: More Young Humpback Hijinx, Mating Sea Otters and More

Moss Landing Tail-lobbing Humpback Whale
This tail-lobber also gave us a few good solid breaches. Photo: Michael Sack, www.sanctuarycruises.com 06-13-2015

The last couple of days  we’ve had overcast, fog-like conditions in the morning giving way to clearer conditions as the day goes on. After the first hour or two, it’s been clearing up nicely.

Moss Landing Sea Otter
Here are a couple of mating sea otters. The males typically bite on the female’s nose. That’s how we generally identify females. By their either bloddy or scarred nose. Photo: Michael Sack, 06-13-2015. www.sanctuarycruises.com 06-13-2015

That’s when we start seeing blows all around. The occasional breaching in the distance. Often when we head out to a breaching whale the animal just keeps on doing it. Sometimes they just stop and you don’t see them again. The marine life out here is very unpredictable. I guess that’s what makes life interesting out here.

Moss Landing Sea Lion
We’ve never seen a sea lion eating a Mola Mola. We have seen them appear to harass molas and tear their fins off. But this seemed to be eating this thing. Mola molas, AKA “giant ocean sunfish”, are known to have a foul membrane covering their skin that makes them unappealing for most animals. Photo: Michael Sack, 06-13-2015. www.sanctuarycruises.com

For me, it’s almost an addiction. To see the rare encounters. To get the perfect photograph or video of that rare encounter. And if we’re lucky enough to stumble across the rare encounter or behavior we can only hope that all the elements come together for good media production.

Moss Landing Mating Sea Otters
It sure seems ruff on the females. But this seems to be how they do it. Photo: Michael Sack, www.sanctuarycruises.com.

That’s what drives me. I love marine life photography and video. Conditions are everything. When everything comes together it’s quite the rush. Light wind, small swell and good light at the right angle and I’m as happy as can be.

 

06-10-2015: Humpbacks Still in Front of Moss Landing in Large Numbers, One Chronic Jumper

Moss Landing Humpback Whale
This humpback was all we needed. It had to have jumped more than 20-times. Photo: Michael Sack, www.sanctuarycruises.com

It just keeps on getting better. Moss Landing continues to be the hot-spot for large concentrations of feeding humpbacks and the occasional dolphins. The anchovies are bunching up against the canyon ledges and the humpbacks seem to be taking advantage of it.

Moss Landing Humpback Whale
It just kept on launching. Photo: Michael Sack, www.sanctuarycruises.com

The weather is everything out there. I always look to forward to calm days like we had today. Warm and glassy. Very little wind and no swell.

Moss Landing Humpback Whale
And then there was the chin slapping. Photo: Michael Sack, www.sanctuarycruises.com

As has been the case every day for the last year and a half, today we were on the action as soon as we left the harbor.

Moss Landing Humpback Whale
We’re’ not sure why sometimes they seem to be more active than other times. It seems very random. Photo: Michael Sack, www.sanctuarycruises.com

In fact, we were seeing blows before we left the harbor. So that’s always cool. After about 30-minutes of hanging with a handful of whales, we noticed a breacher about a mile out to the west so we made a course and the show was on.

Moss Landing Humpback Whale
On the prowl just outside of Moss Landing Harbor. Photo: Michael Sack, www.sanctuarycruises.com

Another chronic  breacher. This animal jumped completely out of the water at least 20 times. Then it would surface on it’s side and slap it’s massive pectoral fin against the water.

Moss Landing Elephant Seal
On one of our trips we had this friendly young elephant seal slowly swim up to the boat to have a look. Photo: Michael Sack, www.sanctuarycruises.com

We pretty much spent the rest of the trip watching this humpback throwing itself out of the water and slapping it’s pectoral fin for almost 2 hours.

Moss Landing Velella Velella
We heard reports from other captains on other boat 8-miles away who were reporting the same thing. Photo: Michael Sack, www.sanctuarycruises.com
Moss Landing Velella Velella
This is the biggest aggregations of Velella Velella’s we’ve seen. Photo: Michael Sack, www.sanctuarycruises.com

05-31-2015: Many Humpbacks, Common Dolphins, Sooty Shearwaters, Feeding Otters and Active Orcas

Moss Landing Killer Whales
This killer whale spy hopped dangerously close to this crab trap gear. That was a scary moment. Crab gear can be dangerous for large cetaceans. Photo: Michael Sack, 05-31-2015

The Summer action is here. The only thing missing are large numbers of blue whales. But we did see one a few days ago and it looks like the humpbacks a little further out are feeding on krill. So hopefully we’ll start seeing more blues showing up.

Moss Landing Killer Whales
They were on some kind of kill. But we never got a good look at what they were feeding on. But they sure were happy about it. Photo: Michael Sack, 05-31-2015.

But the humpbacks are out in force right outside of Moss Landing all the way out to about 10-miles out. Probably 30-50+ of them along that stretch.  We had about 20 of them within a mile or two of the Moss Landing Harbor today. Which is nothing new really. The area just outside of Moss Landing Harbor is definitely worthy of what all the captains are now calling the “Moss Landing Marine Park.”

Moss Landing Killer Whales
Cruising in formation. The family that hunts together stays together. Photo: Michael Sack, 05-31-2015.

There have been least 10-20 humpbacks within a mile or two of the harbor consistently occurring alongside hundreds of common dolphins and increasing numbers sooty shearwater birds, sea otters, harbor seals, sea lions and the occasional killer whale hunting party to name just a few. Its quite remarkable. One can usually stand on the beach in Moss Landing and see the unmistakable blows and tail flukes of the humpback whale. Sometimes the occasional breach.

Moss Landing Killer Whales
They were all tail slapping and carrying on for over an hour. Photo: Michael Sack, 05-31-2015.

Today was epic. We had excellent looks at humpbacks. The best humpback encounter today was when a herd of about 4-6 full size humpbacks started heading toward us in stampede formation as they kept surfacing and blowing repeatedly until they came at us broadside and all dove under the boat as they threw their tail flukes up and went under within about 10-feet of us. They all popped up on the other side about 30-yards away.

Moss Landing Mola Mola
These are very odd looking animals. This was a small one. Only about 15″ in diameter. Also known as the sunfish. Europeans call them “moon fish”. They eat mainly jellies. Photo: Michael Sack, 05-31-2015.

After that spectacle, I wanted to go do some exploring, so we headed out along the north ledge when we came across more common dolphins and a little more room to cruise. They like to bow ride and leverage the energy from our wake to jump out of the water as they follow us. It’s a lot of fun to see them buzzing by under water and jumping out of the water just below the rail. We did stop and put the hydrophone in but they were more interested in cruising around, so we didn’t get any good vocalizations.

Moss Landing Humpback Whale
This little fella would stop jumping. This was from a trip last week. Photo: Michael Sack, 05-22-2015.

As we were nearing the end of the trip today (we had about another 30-minutes) we received a report of killer whales about 5-miles north of us and decided to extend the trip and throw the dice. Well let me tell you, it paid off with a very active show of killer whales just going nuts. Just like the old days of 5-6 hour trips. Sometimes it happens that way. We left at 10:30 am and finally got back to the dock at just after 4:00 PM. But it was incredible.

Moss Landing Humpback Whale
It’s been really odd. Last week we had a couple of days where the humpbacks were unusually active. We had one young calf breach about 70-times in a row. Photo:Michael Sack, 05-21-2015.

Moss Landing still seems to be a well kept secret. Except for those in the know. It’s quite baffling to see the Monterey boats taking out hundreds of people on each trip and running trips all day long. I guess most uninformed tourists don’t know any better. We seem to get the hardcore nature nerds (that’s a compliment, because we’re nature nerds too) who do their research and know that Sanctuary is by far the best boat to go out on and Moss Landing is by far the best place to depart from.

Moss Landing Humpback Whale
More breaching from last week. Photo: Michael Sack, 05-21-2015.

Would you rather be on a large boat with 60 to 100+ other people and have to travel an hour or more across The Bay to the “Moss Landing Marine Park” before you see any animals? Or see whales blowing before you even leave the harbor? If you knew any better the answer is obvious. I’m trying to help you here.

Moss Landing Orcas
More orca jumping from today. Photo: Michael Sack, 05-31-2015.

We usually don’t carry more than 30 passengers on our boat and our viewing platform is much closer to the water. Today on both trips we had about 25 passengers. We also have Awesome marine biologists on every trip. It’s more like a learning adventure.

Moss Landing Sea Otter
This little guy is eating a fatty innkeeper worm. Photo: Michael Sack, 05-31-2015.

Going out of Moss Landing passengers get by far the most face time with all the wildlife. Seriously. We’re with humpback whales and dolphins usually within 10-minutes of leaving the harbor. I just thought I should let you know.