This trip left from Moss Landing on a cold but sunny December morning. We didn’t have to search for long before finding some humpback whales relatively close to shore.
There were a few whales in our vicinity, all feeding a few hundred yards apart from each other.
Some of the whales were accompanied by large rafts of California sea lions, who were taking advantage of the baitfish.
There were a few close approaches, likely due to the presence of fish near the boat. We saw fluke dives from all these whales.
Some of them had wrapping scars around the tail stalk, indicating a previous entanglement at some point in their life.
We left these whales in search of more animals, eventually finding a mother and calf feeding together.
We witnessed a lunge feed when we first approached.
The calf was exhibiting all kinds of playful behaviors, including rolling on her side, floating with the tip of her rostrum out of the water, and holding her tail out of the water. She stayed close to her mother.
On the last leg of the trip, we spotted a large group of coastal bottlenose dolphins near the beach. We watched them surf in the waves before returning to the dock.
-Allison
This post was adapted from a blog, read the original here
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