Images by John 'K'

What a fluke!, originally uploaded by Images by John ‘K’.

Given all of the recent news about a BIG pod of humpback whales in Monterey Bay, I made the decision yesterday to try and get out on a sailing with Monterey Bay Whale Watch to see this for myself. I was able to get on their boat that departed at 9am this morning, and I was not disappointed.

Spread over a sizable area of the northern side of the Monterey Bay we saw humpbacks scattered just about everywhere we looked. The guide on the boat estimated between 50 and 100 whales.

Humpbacks tend to keep a relatively low profile in the water – usually all you see of them is their blow-hole, humped back, and tail, and the most prominent sight for sure is the tail fluke as they dive (and we saw LOTs of this going on). We were lucky enough today to see some distant breaches (no pictures), and some “social” interactions such as tail and fin slapping on top of the usual surface, blow, arch and dive move of feeding whales. We also got to hear the whales, and smell their breath, thanks to the proximity of some of the whales as they surfaced.

It was a fantastic trip, and I am so glad I decided to go at short notice, for while we will be sailing with them on September 22, there are no guarantees all these whales will still be in the area then.

I have LOADS of pictures to go through, but here is a taster, straight out of the camera (apart from adding the watermark).

© 2013, John Krzesinski.

Did you know you can find me on Facebook? Check me out here.