On our first trip of the day we traveled down to Pacifica and found two humpback whales lunge feeding in 28 feet of water.
One of the whales surfaced for a brief moment before disappearing. The dorsal fin may have been that of “Gator”, a familiar visitor to our waters. The other whale stuck around and fed in the area. We saw lunge feeding, anchovies boiling at the surface, and lots of bird activity.
At one point the whale approached us within 100 yards.
On our next trip, we found one whale feeding in 85 feet of water.
The humpback was originally found between Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge. Over the course of the trip, the whale moved in between Alcatraz and Angel Island, then towards the Bay Bridge.
We saw lunge feeding and roll feeding from this animal. There were birds hovering over the spot where the whale was feeding. There was tons of bait in the area, as well as tons of boats approaching the whales.
There were inboard/outboard motor boats, sailboats, and large ships in the area. We spent over an hour with this animal as it moved around the bay.
On our final trip of the day we headed back out to the Golden Gate Strait, where we found two whales in about 117 feet of water.
One of the whales was moving in and out of the strait, while the other stayed farther out.
We saw some fluke dives from the closer individual, who we identified in our catalog as #62.
This whale had new scars on its fluke since we last saw it in 2018.
The whale was feeding, with birds and anchovies present in the same area. There were a few sailboats nearby. We spent about an hour with this animal.
-Allison
This post was adapted from a blog, read the original here
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