Month: August 2015

08-24-2015: Non-stop Lunge-feeding on the Early Trip, Continues For The 10:30 AM Trip

Sorry about not updating the Captain’s Log over the last couple of weeks. I injured my hand/wrist pretty bad so I’ve been having a hard time shooting and writing. Very hard to type. So I’ll have to be short on the text for another few days. Trying to type and operate computer, but it’s still a bit painful. But I did manage to pop off a few decent photo’s this morning. So here they are. I should be back at it by Friday.

-Captain Mike

Monterey Bay Humpback Whales
We haven’t seen this kind of constant lunge-feeding since last year. Non-stop fatty whale heads popping up every few minutes for the entire 08:00 morning trip. Photo: Michael Sack, sanctuarycruises.com 08-24-2015
Monterey Bay Humpback Whales
They just kept on going. Photo: Michael Sack, sanctuarycruises.com 08-24-2015.
Monterey Bay Humpback Whales
Here’s another one. Photo: Michael Sack, 08-24-2015.

08-23-2015: Orcas Take Out a Young Harbor Seal Next to The Sanctuary, Twenty to Thirty or More Humpback Whales Invade Moss Landing, Random Breaching, Tail-lobbing, Surface Lunge-feeding

Monterey Bay Killer Whales
We came across these four killer whales just as we were about to head in. They had a young harbor seal pinned up against the Sanctuary. This isn’t the first time this has happened. Photo: Mike Sabina, Sanctuary Passenger, 08-23-2015.

Epic times in the Moss Landing Marine Park. The humpback whale action has been constant over the last few weeks right out in front of Moss Landing. We have had consistent large numbers of humpbacks within a mile or two of the harbor. At least 20-30 whales working in groups as well as scattered about.

Moss Landing Humpback Whale
Incredible encounter today. These four orcas were circling the boat, going under the boat and spraying passengers with their blows as they tried to get this poor young harbor seal that was hiding right next to the boat. We don’t call her the Sanctuary for nothing. Photo: Sanctuary Passenger Mike Sabina, 08-23-2015.

There has also been consistent but random lunge feeding with 3-4 whales popping their big fatty heads up out of the water simultaneously with mouths agape chasing anchovies out of the water. It hasn’t been rampant lunge-feeding, but enough to to get some amazing looks.

Moss Landing Humpback Whale
A humpback whale actually goes into the Moss Landing Harbor. They’re so thick over here they’re spilling over into the harbor. Well, Ok, maybe they’re not actually spilling over into the harbor, but this one sure did last week. We sure have it good over here. The best whale watching in the world. That’s why most of the Monterey whale boats and Santa Cruz boats drive the hour to hour and a half to come right out in front of our harbor. We’re seeing whales before we even leave the harbor. Life is good. Photo: Michael Sack, sanctuarycruises.com

There was one day last week when we had many whales breaching all over pretty much all day. So that was incredible.

Check out some video from today:

vickie-video-01

vickie-video-02

On our last trip today just as we were heading in, we came across one of our best orcas encounters ever. These four killer whales had a harbor seal pup pinned up against the Sanctuary. Passengers had quite an amazing close up encounter. At some points they were close enough to touch. Of course, we do not allow touching. Absolutely no petting the killer whales please. What a day. They were still out front of Moss Landing at dark. So we’ll see what happens tomorrow. If I wanted to see killer whales, I would get on one of our boats tomorrow. You never know. Life in Moss Landing is good. Maybe not so good if your a harbor seal. But I’m just saying.

08-11-2015: Lunge-feeding, Breaching and Tail-lobbing Humpbacks, Bow Riding Dolphins, Molas and More, Best Action So Far This Year

Monterey Bay Whale Watching
Humpback whales doing some vertical surface lunge-feeding just outside of Moss Landing. Photo: Chace Dekker, sanctuarycruises.com 08-10-2015
Over the last few days, we’ve been seeing the best action this year on all trips, all day long. And the marine conditions have been excellent. It doesn’t get much better than this.
Monterey Bay long-beaked common dolphins
Monterey Bay long-beaked common dolphins. Photo: Chace Dekker, sanctuarycruises.com 08-11-2015
We also saw 200-300 Long-Beaked common dolphins and large groups of the feeding and breaching humpback whales. This has been going on for the last few days. Epic sightings.
Monterey Bay Whale Watching
The lunge-feeding continues. Photo: Chace Dekker, sanctuarycruises.com 08-10-2015
Most trips today had humpbacks approach the Sanctuary within 5 feet to show us some love. us some love. The afternoon trip was over the top. We had multiple lunge-feeding, breaching, tail-lobbing and more. We also saw a massive 8-foot mola mola.
Monterey Bay Whale Watching
More lunge-feeding. Photo: Chace Dekker, sanctuarycruises.com 08-11-2015.

08-08-2015: Moss Landing Whale Park, The Real Greatest Show On Earth

Monterey Bay Whale Watching
This humpback did this repeatedly. I call it chin slapping. It’s a very peculiar to observe. Photo: Michael Sack, sanctuarycruises.com 08-08-2015.

Tom Steinstra was serious when he called what’s happening in Moss Landing right now “The real greatest show on earth.” Check out this video and you’ll see what he means:

There has been an absolutely remarkable spectacle happening just outside of the Moss Landing Harbor over the last three to four days. Fifteen plus humpback whales have been feeding together on a mass scale.

Monterey Bay Whale Watching
Here it is again. Notice the water coming out of it’s mouth. Very odd. Photo: Michael Sack, sanctuarycruises.com 08-08-2015.

The main reason this happens every year just outside of Moss Landing Harbor is because of a very unique geological feature found just outside the harbor.

Monterey Bay Whale Watching
Yesterday and today we had breaching and tail-lobbing all day long. Photo: Michael Sack, sanctuarycruises.com, 08-08-2015.

It’s called the Monterey Bay Submarine Canyon. And the formation begins right at the Moss landing Harbor entrance.

Monterey Bay Whale Watching
This was what I call a horizontal surface lunge. It’s a feeding technique these humpbacks occasionally use. Photo: Michael Sack, sanctuarycruises.com 08-08-2015.

It’s larger and deeper than the Grand Canyon. Within the Monterey Bay The Canyon can get to over 6,000 feet deep. Further outside the Monterey Bay The Canyon can get to 12,000 feet deep. This is known as an upwelling zone. We see massive marine life productivity along The Canyon ledges. Fortunately for us, it all starts right at the Moss Landing Harbor entrance. So we see massive humpback whale feeding events within five minutes of leaving the harbor.

08-06-2015: 15+ Humpbacks Feeding With A Large Herd of Sea Lions

Monterey Bay Whale Watching
This is called spy-hopping. Humpbacks do this occasionally. They seem to do it to take a look around. If you look closely, you can see the eye of the whale. I enlarged the photo and it appeared to be looking right at me. Very cool. Photo: Michael Sack, sanctuarycruises.com 08-06-2015

There has been a big change over the last few days. The anchovies seemed to have bunched up nicely and it’s bringing the humpbacks and sea lions together. We’ve been seeing between 15-20 whales in front of Moss Landing for months now. However, they’ve been pretty well scattered over 2-3 mile area. They’ve also been coming up one at a time, breathing and going down. They have also been generally staying down longer with short surface times.

Monterey Bay Whale Watching
It was nice to have the occasional surface lunge as pictured above. It hasn’t been non-stop lunge-feeding, but they have been popping up every once in a while. Photo: Chace Dekker, sanctuarycruises.com 08-06-2015.

Over the last few days we’ve had 10-15 whales working with about 100 sea lions as they feast on the anchovies. Today, they were all right there next to each other and coming up all at once. It’s quite a spectacle.

Monterey Bay Whale Watching
The Monterey Bay is a multi-use sanctuary. Here some salmon fisherman trolling. Photo: Michael Sack, sanctuarycruises.com 08-06-2015

First all the sea lions start popping up, splashing and barking. Then all the whales start popping up within feet of one another. The loud sound of their blows blasting one after another as they all surface. This is more what we were seeing during last summer’s massive feeding frenzy.

Monterey Bay Whale Watching
A pair of humpbacks goes down for a dive. Photo: Michael Sack, sanctuarycruises.com

They’ve also been doing more surface lunge-feeding, spy hopping, breaches and tail-lobbing. The action seems to heating up. We’ll see what happens on Friday. Stay tuned for updates.

Monterey Bay Whale Watching
The Mola Mola. Photo: Michael Sack, sanctuarycruises.com 08-06-2015.

08-04-2015: Perfect Conditions All Day Long, 10-15+ Feeding Humpbacks In Front of Moss Landing

Monterey Bay Whale Watch
This breaching humpback must have startled the breaching sea lion right next to it. 60,000 lbs of humpback whale launching 20 feet in the air would certainly have a startling effect to anyone nearby. Photo: Michael Sack, sanctuarycruises.com 08-06-2015.

More humpbacks seemed to have shown up over the last few days. We have also been seeing large areas of anchovies at the surface.

Monterey Bay Whale Watch
This is the pectoral fin of a young humpback whale. Photo: Michael Sack, sanctuarycruises.com 08-05-2015.

At first the massive schools of anchovies appear darker areas of water. I’m talking large areas, like 1/2 mile or more in diameter. As you get closer and look down into the water, all you can see is anchovies. Right there at surface.

 

This has created perfect conditions for vertical surface lunge-feeding. Although we have no been seeing rampant lunge-feeding, there have been the occasional big, fatty whale heads popping up out of the water.

Monterey Bay Whale Watching
Tail-lobbing and breaching all day long. Photo: Michael Sack, sanctuarycruises.com

Today was all about the breaching and tail-lobbing. We had very active whales today. Many, many breaches, tail-lobs and tail slaps. It was remarkable. All day long on all trips, the jumping didn’t stop.

Monterey Bay Whale Watching
More tail-lobbing. Photo: Michael Sack, sanctuarycruises.com 08-05-2015.

07-31-2015: Calm, Nice Marine Conditions All Day Long, 10-12 Humpbacks Feeding Next To Each Other

Monterey Bay Whale Watching
A pair of humpback whales go down for a dive. Photo: Michael Sack, sanctuarycruises.com 07-30-2015

The marine conditions have been stellar over the last few days. We have also had more humpbacks show up outside of Moss Landing. We started out this morning with an 08:00 am trip. We had decent visibility to the South and to the West. But there was some fog to the North and to the Northwest.

Monterey Bay Whale Watching
Moss Landing Humpbacks go down for some anchovies. Photo: Michael Sack, sanctuarycruises.com 07-30-2015

We left the harbor going very slow. If there were any whales close by I didn’t want to miss them. Because there was a kind of light fog that made our visibility come and go. The fog did start to clear pretty well. But we still didn’t see any whales. They were not where they have been.

Monterey Bay Whale Watching
More humpback whale fluking. Photo: Michael Sack, sanctuarycruises.com 07-30-2015

But I had the best visibility to the southwest and I could also see large numbers of sooty shearwater birds in that direction. So I made a course for the Southwest and followed the south ledge for about 4-5 miles. I didn’t see anything. I started to get worried. No whales for going on an hour. I don’t know when the last time this happened. I think the last time it took longer than an hour to find whales was going on two years now. This was disturbing. So I decided to head back across the ditch to the north ledge and see if anything was going on over there.

Monterey Bay Common Murres
Father and chick common murres. Photo: Michael Sack, 07-30-2015

Soon I noticed splashing. Looked like dolphins. So I got off the roof, took the helm back and made a course for the splashing dolphins. That would be the long-beaked common dolphins.

Monterey Bay Whale Watch
The three amigos going down for a dive. Photo: Michael Sack, 07-30-2015

So we spent about 30-minutes cruising around with about 30-50 dolphins as they rode the bow, alongside the boat and in our wake. That’s always fun.

Monterey Bay Whale Watching
This young calf must have breached over one hundred times. We think it’s some kind of record. Photo: Michael Sack, sanctuarycruises.com 07-28-2015

But after a while we needed to start making our way back to the harbor. That’s when I noticed a couple of blows to the north on the inside of the Pajaro Hole. And then two more. And six more. The next thing we knew we were in them. With 10-12+ whales working a 1/2 mile area. They were all around. They would come together and we would see eight whales coming up and cruising by the boat right next to each other. It was some good watching. They were staying up good with short dive times and not going very far when they came up.

Monterey Bay Whale Watching
Whale watching on the Monterey Bay. Photo: Michael Sack, sanctuarycruises.com 07-31-2015

And this was pretty much the story for all the trips today. Many whales. But they moved about 2.5-miles to the North.