2015 10-11 Monterey Bay - Orcas & Humpbacks
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2015 10-11 Monterey Bay
8am - 12:15pm
Wisps of fog crept across Monterey Bay from the hills above the city and created a sort of glow as the bright morning sun hit it at an angle. Suellen and I boarded the Sea Wolf II on Monterey Wharf, thanks to our friend Tony, and the boat quickly filled up. It was a three-day Columbus Day weekend and whale fans were out. It would be a mostly sunny morning with a large swell running out on the open Bay.
No more than a few minutes outside of Monterey Harbor we joined the Point Sur Clipper and a gray inflatable boat with a camera crew filming a pod of 4 Bigg's Killer whales. There were four whales including one medium-sized male called "Fat Fin," two females and a juvenile. The pod was actively attacking a sea lion through a series of actions such as ramming it, slapping it with their tails, and (on two occasions) throwing it in the air. We stayed on the scene for a bit more than an hour.
After things began to settle down the captain moved out towards the Monterey Submarine Canyon. On our way out there were dozens of very small ocean sunfish (Mola mola) hanging vertically on the surface with their fins nipped-off by sea lions. Soon we reached a hot spot with at least 40 humpback whales, many of which were surface lunge-feeding together. Sea birds, mostly gulls and brown pelicans, were gathered around the feeding hot spot picking up the anchovy by-catch that the humpbacks created. Many California sea lions and long-beaked common dolphins shared the dinner table with the whales. It was a spectacle. It appeared to me that the long-beaked common dolphins in Monterey Bay were noticeably smaller than those we see regularly in the Santa Barbara Channel.
Photographing this event was a bit challenging given the ground swell, and it was not uncommon to have a scene in focus through the lens only to have it disappear behind an on-coming set of waves. The captain kept a respectful distance from the feeding aggregation along with several other whale watching boats large and small. Many humpback whales swam right next to the boat on their way to and from the banquet.
It was a fun and very productive excursion.
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Read More2015 10-11 Monterey Bay
8am - 12:15pm
Wisps of fog crept across Monterey Bay from the hills above the city and created a sort of glow as the bright morning sun hit it at an angle. Suellen and I boarded the Sea Wolf II on Monterey Wharf, thanks to our friend Tony, and the boat quickly filled up. It was a three-day Columbus Day weekend and whale fans were out. It would be a mostly sunny morning with a large swell running out on the open Bay.
No more than a few minutes outside of Monterey Harbor we joined the Point Sur Clipper and a gray inflatable boat with a camera crew filming a pod of 4 Bigg's Killer whales. There were four whales including one medium-sized male called "Fat Fin," two females and a juvenile. The pod was actively attacking a sea lion through a series of actions such as ramming it, slapping it with their tails, and (on two occasions) throwing it in the air. We stayed on the scene for a bit more than an hour.
After things began to settle down the captain moved out towards the Monterey Submarine Canyon. On our way out there were dozens of very small ocean sunfish (Mola mola) hanging vertically on the surface with their fins nipped-off by sea lions. Soon we reached a hot spot with at least 40 humpback whales, many of which were surface lunge-feeding together. Sea birds, mostly gulls and brown pelicans, were gathered around the feeding hot spot picking up the anchovy by-catch that the humpbacks created. Many California sea lions and long-beaked common dolphins shared the dinner table with the whales. It was a spectacle. It appeared to me that the long-beaked common dolphins in Monterey Bay were noticeably smaller than those we see regularly in the Santa Barbara Channel.
Photographing this event was a bit challenging given the ground swell, and it was not uncommon to have a scene in focus through the lens only to have it disappear behind an on-coming set of waves. The captain kept a respectful distance from the feeding aggregation along with several other whale watching boats large and small. Many humpback whales swam right next to the boat on their way to and from the banquet.
It was a fun and very productive excursion.
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