Month: April 2017

04-20-2017: Orcas Show Up, Humpbacks, Gray Whales and More

Monterey Bay Killer Whales Killer whales show up and find something. We’re never saw what they were eating. Photo: Michael Sack, sanctuarycruises.com 04-20-2017

The Spring action continues as The Monterey Bay delivers amazing sightings today in clean conditions.

Monterey Bay Killer Whales They seemed to be feeding on something down there. Photo: Michael Sack, sanctuarycruises.com 04-20-2017.

Monterey Bay Killer Whale Big male orca, Photo: Michael Sack, sanctuarycruises.com 04-20-2017.

Monterey Bay Killer Whales Female circling the area. Photo: Michael Sack, sanctuarycruises.com 04-20-2017.

Monterey Bay Killer Whales Another large male. Photo: Michael Sack, sanctuarycruises.com 04-20-2017.

04-19-2017: 30-50+ Humpback Whales in the Monterey Bay, Blue Whales, Albatross and More

Moss Landing Humpback WhaleHumpback whales surface lunge-feed on anchovies. Photo: Sack, www.sanctuarycuises.com.

Conditions have been incredible. Today it was calm and glassy for the whole trip with only a light breeze in the afternoon. Many humpbacks have shown up all along the California coast over the last week. Pretty heavy numbers. Particularly right out in front of Moss Landing. Probably between 15-20 humpbacks within 6 miles of Moss Landing. We’ve heard reports of massive amounts of anchovies close in from Marina/Monterey area all the up past the Pajaro as far North as Aptos. Things could be setting up for another year of close in surface feeding humpbacks. For now, we’re back to consistent humpbacks in good numbers within a few miles of the harbor. That’s what I’m talking about. It’s sure thing right now. We might start running some two hour trips for young family’s. Sometimes a four-five hour trip can be a bit much for some. So look for those 2-hour trips in the coming weeks.

Monterey Bay Blue Whale We were stoked to get on these three blue whales. Thanks to Eric Mailander for putting us on them. Here’s one of them. The mighty blue whale. Photo: Michael Sack, sanctuarycruises.com

We have also have been getting reports of other scattered groups of 10-15 humpbacks in various other areas of The Bay. Like Monterey and south to Pt. Lobos. Also up toward Santa Cruz and to the west.

Check out some video from today’s trip:

Monterey Bay Humpback Whale Video with Sanctuary Cruises

So it’s nice to have a choice of which group of whales to hang out with. We also heard reports of dolphins to the south heading north.

Monterey Bay Fur Seal It was nice to run across this fur seal. Photo: Michael Sack, www.sanctuarycruises.com

On Tues. we had nice looks at albatross and a fur seal. The humpbacks have been feeding on both krill and anchovies. We’ve seen both. over the last few days. The Spring humpback stampede is on!

Monterey Bay Black-footed Albatross Black-footed albatross sitting on the water. These remarkable birds fly all the way from Hawaii in search of food. They’re wing span can be over 6-feet widd. Photo: Michael Sack, sanctuarycruises.com