Victoria, British Columbia (Canada) in 2009 is where and when I saw my first cetacean in the wild, a mammal-eating transient killer whale. Since moving to San Diego, I’ve been able to observe many more species between Cabo San Lucas and Victoria, including around the Farallon and Channel Islands. One of my favorite things to do is park myself on a bench at Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve and watch the eastern North Pacific gray whales hugging our coastline for relative safety. They make trips between their feeding grounds in the Arctic and where they most often give birth in Baja, California (Mexico). Some do so along the way and I’ve been lucky to see a newborn calf in San Diego waters that still had its natal folds. They make these perilous semiannual journeys in the presence of large ships and pods of killer whales that prey on the young grays. It’s about 6,000 miles each way.
Being up in Monterey for a few days recently afforded me the opportunity to head out with Monterey Bay Whale Watch again.
Southern sea otter with a crown of sparkles
A humpback whale lunge feeding on a school of fish with shorebirds dining as well
The mighty back of a humpback whale
The darker bands above the coastline are smoke from the wildfire near Big Sur which we’d planned on revisiting for two nights till the 1 was shut down. It was started by an ember blown from a burn pile inexplicably going while there were strong winds in the area.
Humpback mating behavior
This Pacific white-sided dolphin inadvertently put on a spectacular show for us while hopefully living its best life.
Pacific white-sided dolphin headed up to bow ride
Northern right whale dolphins are finless (and adorable in my opinion).
That’s a northern right whale calf leading the charge.
California sea lions thermoregulating
All Risso’s dolphins appear to be smiling.
This is Casper, the aptly named and locally famous albino Risso’s.
Gray whales heading south
Gray whale mating behavior
Gray whale diving into the swell
Goodnight, Monterey Peninsula.