Killer Whales

It just goes to show you never know what to expect on a Whale Watch. When we set out yesterday afternoon on our May Dolphin and Sea Life Cruise we went out with expectations of finding Dolphins, what we found was so much more. We found Dolphins all right, but not just any Dolphin, they were the largest of the Dolphin, or Toothed Whale Family, the Killer Whale or Orca. We were alerted to their presence by the Whale Census Volunteers at the American Cetacean Society (ACS) lookout station at Point Vicente. We raced out to try to intercept these extremely fast moving creatures and WOW what a sight we found.
We found a mixed pod of at least 9 male and female Orcas. Most were full grown at about 30 feet, and a few were young ones. They were playful and several times came right over and played in the bow wave of the boat. We took a lot of pictures to pass onto the Orca Whale Researchers so that they could try to identify which pod of whales these were in Southern California. Just so you know how rare of a site this is, we only see or hear about Orca's in our Southern California waters two or three times a year. Over the next couple of days we will post some more information, and even some pictures of these magnificent creatures, so stay tuned and Happy Whale Watching.

Grey Whale Season Ending

The beautiful Grey Whales are now all but gone and are well on their way back up to their summer feeding grounds in Alaska. It has turned out to be a poor showing for our part of the West Coast for Grey Whales. Our friends at the American Cetacean Society tell us that the Census this year is way below last year levels. We actually had a great season because of all of our friends out there calling in sightings which we were able to turn into great viewings for our customers. Thank you one and all, you know who you are!!!!!!
On a happier note we have been graced with a fantastic mixture of Fin Whales, Minke Whales, Blue Whales and even an occasional Humpback Whale this Spring. The Blue Whales appear to be starting to scout our waters looking for that Summertime feeding spot they like, but as yet are not staying here consistently. What has been exciting is the large numbers of Fin Whales we have seen. The Second Largest Animal on Earth has discovered Southern California is a great place to spend this time of year and we have been seeing lots of them lately. We have even witnessed two Cow Calf pairs of Fin Whales, absolutely incredible! Fin Whales are a challenge to follow because of their incredible speed and habit of zig zaging all over the area they are feeding but they also love to roll around and lunge feed on the surface and we have been seeing lots of that behavior.
Right now we are in the transition between Grey Whale and Blue Whale Seasons, and are going to be doing only one Whale Watch at 2pm Weekdays and 12 noon and 3pm on the Weekends. The weather is getting better and warmer with every week that goes by. Looking forward to seeing you on the Christopher.