Humpback whales near and far, plus offshore orca

12/15/17 We’ve been seeing small humpback whales near shore Santa Cruz, large humpback whales near the canyon center of Monterey Bay, otters, harbor seals, California sea lions and Steller sea lions.

Special sighting we saw what was most likely a very rare pod of “offshore” orcas, different from our usual transient population. They eat fish including salmon! – there were 30-40 of them far out in the Bay.

12/9/17 and 12/10/17: Humpback whales, Pacific white sided dolphins

12/6/17 Wednesday whale watching with super calm conditions! We saw a lot of humpback whales exhibiting surface behaviors, feeding, pec slapping, great show!

PHOTOS: Michael Nelson

Monterey Bay humpback whale

Pacific white sided dolphin