02/09/2019: Four Humpbacks Show up in Front of Moss Landing

Four humpbacks show up two to three miles outside of Moss Landing Harbor. Photo: Sack, www.sanctuarycruises.com

The good news is that this could be an early start to our humpback whale season. But we won’t know for another couple of weeks. Certainly, if more whales start showing up and we start seeing more feeding activity, it could be on. We’ll keep you updated. Still plenty of room on our Saturday trip and conditions are looking good for Saturday. We’ll keep you updated.

01/31/2019-Conditions Looking Unstable, Rain and Wind Predicted for the Weekend, All Trips Canceled

This is a copy and paste from NOAA’s latest forecast for Saturday, 02/02/2019:
“SAT S winds 30 to 40 kt with occasional gusts to 55 kt. Combined seas 9 to 18 ft. Showers through the day. Slight chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon. “

That’s what we call “Nautical”. Gusts to 55kts and 18′ seas is hard to imagine here inside The Bay. It should be quite the spectacle to behold. But I would say this weekend would be good for some powder skiing or snowboarding in Tahoe or Mammoth. But I wouldn’t plan on going out on the ocean here in the Monterey Bay. In case you’re wondering, here is the NOAA website we use as a guide to help us figure out what the conditions will be like:

https://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/data/Forecasts/FZUS56.KMTR.html

At the bottom of the page is the forecast for the Monterey Bay.

01-27-2019: Perfect Marine Conditions, Many Gray Whales, Good Looks at Risso’s Dolphin Nursery Pod

Risso's Dolphin Calf
This was one of two Risso’s dolphin calves that were with this group.

What an incredible day. Absolutely beautiful out there today. Saturday was nice too. Flat calm conditions, warm and nice. And the gray whale migration is on! Lots of gray whales going past. Every year about 20,000 gray whales pass through the Monterey Bay twice each year.

Risso's Dolphin Calf
Risso’s dolphin calf cruising with the pod.

Once from about January through March as they head to the warm water lagoons on the Pacific side of the southern Baja and once from about April through late May when they head back up to their feeding grounds in the Arctic. Baja is where the gray whales breed and give birth to their young. The numbers passing by really bumped up on Sunday.

Monterey Bay Gray Whales
Lots of gray whales passing through the Monterey Bay now.

We were with a nice group of about eight or more that gave us some great surface time. All coming up at the same time and then going down with the occasional tail fluke. And we could lots of blows out the West and to the South. Oh yeah, pretty good for gray whale watching. We also had some great looks at a nursery pod of Risso’s Dolphins. There were at least two calves in this group.

Monterey Bay Risso's Dolphin
A Risso’s dolphin with a very distinctive marking on it’s dorsal fin.

We did hear reports of feeding Humpbacks in The Bay to the north on Saturday. So we’ll see how things go this weekend. We’re keeping a close eye on the weather for the weekend. Could be rain, so we’ll make the call as we get closer to Saturday. Weather is the main factor this time of year. We’re pretty well into our longer winter trip schedule.

Monterey Bay Gray Whales
Nice group of gray whales heading south to their calving and breeding grounds in the warm water lagoons of Southern Baja.

The gray whales on their southbound migration tend to cross the Monterey Bay at the mouth of the Bay. Which for us here in Moss Landing that can be 12-15 miles out. So we tend to have longer trips during the winter. But we also cover more water, so we’re more likely to find dolphins, killer whales or other species as we make our way out the gray whale highway. Keep an eye on the weather or give us a call and we’ll give you an update.

Risso's Dolphin Calf
Risso’s dolphin cruises with it’s mother.

 

11-11-2018: Calm, Glassy Marine Conditions All Day Long, Scattered Feeding Groups of Humpback Whales, Sea Lions and More

Moss Landing Humpback Whale
Moss Landing humpback whale goes down for a dive.

Another little change up in the system today. The humpbacks became a little more scattered out in front of Moss Landing and North into the Pajaro and Soquel Canyons. But we did get reports of lots of scattered whales north off of Santa Cruz. We ended up heading south for all of our trips today. We had to travel about an hour or so, but when we got on them they were performing. Great surface time, about 200-300 sea lions, hundreds of birds and the occasional surface lunge.

California Sea Lions
California sea lions “porpoising”. They do this when ther are trying to get somewhere fast and effeciently. There is less drag in the air than in the water. So swimming like this allows them go faster. Either that or there is a great white shark lurking below nearby.

We had reports of more feeding at different parts of The Bay. There are still lots of humpback whales around. They seem to be in foraging mode in some parts of The Bay today. It’s been different on every trip lately.

Moss Landing Kayaker
Moss Landing kayaker gets up close and personal with the mighty humpback whale.

We also started to get some encouraging reports of multiple blue whales about 8-10 miles out toward the mouth of The Bay. If the reports continue to come in, we’ll likely head out there for a look over the next couple of days. It was about this time last year we had a major influx blue whales feeding. I’m talking like 30-40 blue whales. That’s what happened last year. So the next few days should be interesting to see if more blue whales show up. Stay tuned, we’ll know more later.

California Brown Pelican
A California Brown Pelican looking for fish. Photo: Sack

11-08-2018: Fall Feeding Frenzy Continues, 10+ Humpbacks Just Outside Moss Landing Harbor, Hundreds of Sea Lions, Birds and Dolphins

 

The incredible Fall feeding frenzy continues. Lots of humpback whales continue to show up and feed in the Monterey Bay. We have heard reports of feeding activity throughout the Monterey Bay. We had a group of about ten humpbacks feeding together with about 200 sea lions and hundreds of birds just outside the harbor today. It’s been incredible.

 

We’ve also been seeing dolphins almost every day. Mainly Risso’s and Pacific White-sided dolphins. And today was no different. Early on we had reports of large numbers of dolphins about three miles from our position just outside of the Moss Landing Harbor. We’ve also seen our resident bottlenose just outside the harbor. Conditions have been stellar. The dolphins have been very active. Lots of breaching from the Risso’s.

11-06-2018: Massive Herd of Humpbacks Show up in Front of Moss Landing and Throughout The Monterey Bay

Moss Landing Humpback Whales Lunge-feeding
These two humpback whales were coming up lunge-feeding like this about every three to five minutes. We think this was a mother and yearling pair. Photo: Sack

There was a huge change up in the system over the last couple of days. I knew things were different when I woke up and checked the surf at dawn out in front of my place in Moss Landing. It didn’t take long to observe four or five humpback whales vertical lunge-feeding not far outside the surf zone on the south side of the harbor entrance. Humpbacks, birds and sea lions all in on the frenzy. They’re still out there. I just looked. We think this is the last feast before they head down the their breeding grounds in Southern Mexico around early to mid-December. So we hope the action ramps up over the next couple of weeks.

Moss Landing Humpback Whales Lunge-feeding
More humpback whale vertical lunge-feeding. Photo: Sack

We’ve been waiting for this. We have been seeing lots of anchovies close in over the last couple of weeks. But not many whales on it. Most of the humpbacks have been about four to six miles out over the last couple of weeks. Mostly scattered with the occasional feeding group of birds, sea lions and whales. Now we seem to have a nice sized herd within a few miles of Moss Landing Harbor. We are also hearing reports of large numbers of whales in other parts of The Bay as well. It’s a good time to get out there.

Moss Landing Humpback Whales Lunge-feeding
The feeding frenzy is on. Lots of humpbacks moved in overnight throughout The Bay.

 

Moss Landing Humpback Whales Lunge-feeding
Moss Landing Humpback Whales Lunge-feeding

10-17-2018: Incredible Fall Conditions All Day Long, Feeding Humpbacks, Risso’s Dolphins and More

Breaching Humpback Whale
Humpback whale breaches right next to us. Photo: Dekker, www.sanctuarycruises.com

We had a surreal experience the other day as we listened to a singing humpback whale! We dropped the hydrophone near a pod of Risso’s dolphins and through their clicks (which you can hear) picked up a singing whale! You can hear his grumbles, moans, and high pitch calls as it echoes across the deep. While singing whales are common in the tropics (breeding grounds), it’s fairly rare to hear it in the feeding grounds. There’s still loads of active humpbacks and other animals in the bay. Weather looks great! Filmed by: Chase Dekker www.sanctuarycruises.com

It’s been incredible out there over the last couple of weeks. Kind of hit or miss on the lunge-feeding and other behaviors. But when they put a show it’s quite the spectacle to behold.

Thanks to Sanctuary Passengers Michael R. for sharing! www.sanctuarycruises.com

07-29-2018: Humpback Whale Feeding Frenzy is On

Monterey Bay Lunge-feeding Humpback Whale
Three humpbacks come up for a vertical lunge-feed. Photo: Chase Dekker

Here is another batch of photos from our spectacular trips yesterday! Each one seemed better than the last!

Monterey Bay Lunge-feeding Humpback Whale
The feast continues. Photo: Chase Dekker.

Over the last week or so, we’ve seen many humpbacks move into the Monterey bay. We estimate that there are well over a hundred humpbacks in The Bay right now on the rampage feeding. We’ve been witnessing mind blowing lunge-feeding.

Monterey Bay Breaching Humpback Whale
“Look what I can do”. This young humpback repeated this breaching behavior over 30 times. Photo: Chase Dekker

These massive animals have been feeding cooperatively together in tight aggregations of 15-20 whales. It is one of the most incredible spectacles to behold in nature.

Monterey Bay Breaching Humpback Whale

Lunge-feeding is when these massive animals work together to bunch up a school of anchovies and come up from below a school and keep chasing the fish until they chase them out of the water. That’s when we see their massive heads come ten feet out of the water with their mouths wide open.

Monterey Bay Feeding Humpback Whale
We’ve been seeing several big groups in different parts of The Bay feeding together like this. Photo: Chase Dekker.

This has been happening with 8-10 whales at the same time coming up. It’s so incredible. We’ve been seeing this on almost every trip, so your chances of seeing some exciting action are pretty high right now!

Monterey Bay Feeding Humpback Whale
Feeding action when up about 10 notches over the last few days. Oh yeah. Incredible. Photo: Chase Dekker.

We’ve also been seeing lots of breaching. We were with a cow and calf pair when the youngster started breaching and repeated it about 30 times or more. Truly amazing out there right now.

06-02-2018: Scattered Humpbacks, Bottlenose Dolphin, White Shark Predation and More

Monterey Bay Humpback Whale Breach
Humpback Whale Breaches. Photo: Chase Dekker, sanctuarycruises.com

The shark sightings keep coming! Right outside the harbor, we witnessed a 15 foot great white shark successfully hunt a sea lion! This is another example of why we love Monterey Bay, you truly never know what you’re going to see. Photos: Erica Page

White Shark Outside of Moss Landing Harbor
A white shark hunts and kills a California sea lion just outside of the Moss Landing Harbor. Photo: Erica Page, sanctuarycruises.com

 

White Shark at Moss Landing Harbormouth
White shark attack on California sea lion right outside of the Moss Landing Harbor. Photo: Erica Page, sanctuarycruises.com

 

California Sea Lion being Chased by White Shark
This California sea lion is being chased by the white shark shown above. Photo: Erica Page, sanctuarycruises.com

Spring conditions have prevailed over the last couple of weeks. Which means ok conditions in the morning and rough, windy conditions in the afternoon. We’ve had to cancel a number of our afternoon trips over the last week or so. Although these afternoon conditions can make for very rough or impossible whale watching, this is an essential part of the system for the incredible productivity that we see in the Monterey Bay.

The strong Northwesterly winds that we typically experience from March through July is what drives a condition called upwelling. Upwelling occurs when the wind driven currents at the surface are replaced with the cooler, nutrient rich waters from the deep canyon walls. When this nutrient-rich water makes its way to the surface and comes into contact with sunlight, abundant phytoplankton blooms occur.

The anchovies and krill are attracted to and eat the phytoplankton. Whales, dolphin, sea lions, birds and more feed on the krill and anchovies.

05-09-2018: Killer Whales Again, Humpback Whales and Drone Video from Orca Encounter Last Week

The sightings have been incredible over the last couple of weeks. And today was no different. We have pretty much been seeing killer whales daily on our longer trips. 10:30 departure every day. Humpback whales right outside the harbor. The killer whale have been in about the same spot for the last few days feeding on a gray whale calf carcass that they took down.

Here is some intense drone footage shot by one our captains / naturalists last week. Check it out:

05-07-2018: Humpbacks, Gray Whales, Orcas, Risso’s Dolphins, Pacific White-sided Dolphins and More

Breaching Killer Whale
Emma the mighty killer whale doing a breach. Photo: Dekker, Sanctuarycruises.com

The Spring marine life action is kicking into high gear. We have had active killer whales in The Bay for the last couple of weeks. Pretty much been seeing them everyday on the 10:30 AM trips. We have already observed at least three gray calf predation events. Also many other sightings of orcas throughout The Bay.

Breaching Humpback Whale
Humpback whale does a full breach. Photo: Dekker, www.sanctuarycruises.com

We have also seen increased humpback whale surface-feeding activity. Not the kind of rampant vertical lunge-feeding we like to see, but there has been some random vertical and side lunging. Of course there is always the old random breach and tail lob routine. Lots of humpbacks in The Bay right now.

Monterey Bay Killer Whales
Monterey Bay killer whales on the prowl. Photo: Dekker, www.sanctuarycruises.com

We have heard reports of scattered humpbacks throughout all parts of The Bay and north and south. We’ve also been seeing the occasional passing gray whale mother and calf. Many humpbacks have been feeding right out in front of Moss Landing Harbor.

Moss Landing Lunge-feeding Humpback-whales
Humpback whales do a vertical, surface lunge-feed in front of Moss Landing. Photo: Dekker, www.sanctuarycruises.com

I’ve heard from commercial fisherman coming from north of Santa Cruz that there is a lot of krill about 6-10 miles out off the north coast and further out into the middle of The Bay. He also said he saw large numbers of blue whales.

Monterey Bay Killer Whale
Monterey Bay killer whale cruising. Photo: Dekker, www.sanctuarycruises.com

The thinking is that with the predominant Northwesterly flow and the southbound California current, the krill and whales will eventually end up down here in the Monterey Bay. So that’s what we’re hoping for. We’ll keep you updated.

Monterey Bay Pacific White-sided dolphin
A Pacific white-sided dolphin cruises alongside the boat. Photo: Dekker, www.sanctuarycruises.com

02-09-2018: Humpback Whale Update, Mystery Whale, Gray Whales, Dolphins and More

Moss Landing Humpback Whale
This humpback whale has been feeding just outside of the Moss Landing harbor for about the last week or so. Photo: Michael Sack, sanctuarycruises.com

Sorry it’s been a while since I’ve done a post. I must admit, I’ve been surfing almost every day since October. So sorry about that. I’ve pretty much been hitting the waves as soon as I get off the boat. Then I’m too tired because I surf until dark. The waves have been epic so far this year. But now we’re back at it full-speed ahead. I’ve been kind of waiting to see if these humpbacks that have been hanging around out in front of Moss Landing were going to stay for the Winter. Well, it looks like they aren’t going anywhere. Oh yeah.

Moss Landing Humpback Whale
Incoming humpback just outside the Moss Landing Harbor. It’s nice to be on a whale within a few minutes of leaving the harbor. Gives us some time to do some exploring. Photo: Sack, sanctuarycruises.com

It’s been an incredible Winter so far. Overall conditions have been stellar since last Spring. So we’ve been loving it. And now we are certain that there are at least 10-15 humpback whales that will not be making their normal migration. The humpback whales we see here in the Monterey Bay are part of the Eastern Pacific population.

Long-beaked Common Dolphins
Finally the dolphins showed up. We haven’t seen the long-beaked common dolphins for months. today we had a nice pod of about 300 of them. Photo: Sack, sanctuarycruises.com

Scientists believe there are about 2,000 humpback whales in this population. The majority of this population feeds here along the California coast in the Spring, Summer and Fall. Then in mid-December to early January, most of the population heads south to their calving and breeding grounds in Southern Mexico. A lot of the humpback whales we see here just outside of Moss Landing and in the Monterey Bay have also been seen down in Banderas Bay just south of Puerto Vallarta.

Long-beaked Common Dolphins
More dolphin fun. This really made the trip. These animals were riding our wake, riding along side of the boat, in front of the boat. Jumping out of the water as they went. It was fantastic. Photo: Sack, sanctuarycruises.com

Other humpback whales in the Eastern Pacific population have been seen as far south as off the coast of Costa Rica. How do we know for sure? A noninvasive type of research called photo-ID research. This is where scientists and others, including us at the Sanctuary and other citizen scientists from around the world, submit photographs of the underside of the humpback whale tail-flukes to various databases maintained by whale researchers (we like www.happywhale.com).

Long-beaked Common Dolphin
Any day we have dolphins is a great day. We were with them for about 45 minutes. Whales around too. Almost like summer whale watching. Photo: Sack, sanctuarycruises.com

Most humpback whales have a black and white pattern on the underside of their tail flukes. In addition, they can have unique notches and nicks on the trailing edge of their tail-flukes. Taken together, these physical characteristics can be as unique as a human finger print. So this allows scientists to compare or match these characteristics using photographs from all over the world with tail-fluke photo’s already on file. Of course, each photograph is tagged with time, date and location data.

California Sea Lion
This California sea lion kept leaping out of the water. When I see this I have to wonder if they are being chased by something (shark) or are they chasing something. This thing just kept leaping out of the water for about 10 minutes. Photo: Sack, sanctuarycruises.com

For example, we know that there has never been a match from a tail-fluke photograph from a whale here along the California coast with a tail-fluke photo from a whale in Hawaii. But there have been matches between tail-flukes photographed in Hawaii and Alaska. So that is a different population of humpback whales. There are different humpback whale populations in all the worlds oceans.

Mola Mola
Greetings. The always strange looking Mola Mola. AKA, the giant ocean sunfish. This was a small one, maybe about 12″-15″ in diameter. Full-size mola molas can be eight to ten feet in diameter. Photo: Sack, sanctuarycruises.com

The last couple of days have been incredible. We haven’t seen the long-beaked common dolphins for months. So it was great to see them a couple of days ago. Then we heard reports that they were still around. They were spotted off of Seaside to the south of us here is Moss Landing. So we’ll see what happens on our next trip. We’ve also been seeing a lot of Northern fulmars flying around. And we even had a sighting of a mystery whale that was either a very small minke whale or some type of beaked whale. Check out the photo below.

Mystery Whale
Mystery Whale. We’re not sure what type of whale this is. At first I thought it was a small minke. But now I’m not sure. It could be a beaked whale of some type. Photo: Michael Sack, sanctuarycruises.com

 

Fulmar
Lots of fulmars around. Photo: Sack, sanctuarycruises.com

And of course the cutest thing we see out here are the sea otters. And there have been a few mother and pup pairs around. So that even more cute. We been seeing some small mola molas on most trips also.

Gray Whale
Then on the way in we stumbled across this gray whale. Photo: Sack, sanctuarycruises.com

Fulmar
Fulmar in action. Photo: Sack, sanctuarycruises.com

11-14-2017: Killer Whales Just Outside The Harbor, Ten Plus Humpbacks Right Out Front

Killer whales just outside of the Moss Landing Harbor. Photo: Sack, 11-14-2017

Today we had a pod of five killer whales show up just outside the Moss Landing Harbor. We had eyes on them before we even left the harbor. That’s why Moss Landing is the best harbor in the Monterey Bay to leave from for whale watching. Both ledges of the deep Monterey Bay submarine canyon start right at the entrance to the Moss Landing Harbor.

Monterey Bay
This is a 3D bathymetric chart of the Monterey Bay. You can see how the Monterey Bay submarine canyon begins at the entrance to the Moss Landing Harbor. Killer whales often follow the edge of the canyon when they are travelling up and down the coast. So the ledges on both sides of the Monterey Bay submarine canyon lead the killer whales to an area just outside our harbor. That’s why Moss Landing is one of the best places in the world to view marine mammals.

Monterey Bay Killer Whale
Male killer whale on the prowl. Photo: Sack, 11-14-2017.

10-08-2017: More Lunge-feeding, Rough Conditions Make For Rough Going

Monterey Bay Lunge-feeding Humpback Whale
One of two humpbacks we were with today that were lunge-feeding.

More lunge-feeding, but rough conditions make the going tough. The day started out lumpy. We were pretty much rocking and rolling right out the gate. That was the word of the day. Not our normal Fall conditions. We usually don’t see such confused seas. We had some mixed swell with a solid unusual late-season south ground swell and a solid West swell. We had to cancel the afternoon trips.
Most of the humpbacks were further out today. And because of the conditions we had a hard time getting out to them. Luckily we came on to a couple regular lunge-feeders. They were coming up with nice lunges about every ten minutes. We even had a couple of massive vertical lunges where they exposed their pink ventral throat pleats. Hopefully conditions will improve today. Stay tuned.