This past weekend......

Hi Everyone...

I just returned (well three weeks ago) from a fun weekend (Oct 4-6) with friends in Monterey / Moss Landing and thought I would post about it. 

Mom picked me up early from school on Thursday for a doctors appointment. After my appointment, mom and I headed north for Marina, California (just outside of Monterey) where our hotel was for the next four nights. I was so excited to be going on a short road trip. 

There was no traffic, just super windy. We were anxious to get there that some parts seem like it was taking forever to drive through. It's only a 4 1/2 hour drive, but it sure seem to take much longer. 

Anyway, the past few weeks, we heard there were a TON of Humpback Whales in the Monterey Bay, including some really close in to shore. Mom was hoping they would still be there through this weekend. 

We arrived just after the sun went down, but it wasn't quite dark just yet. As we drove from Monterey to Marina, at almost every opening in the sand dunes, mom saw whale blows. Some were quite vivid, so she knew they were really close in to shore. We made a quick stop at Marina State Beach, and sure enough, there were blows everywhere - up and down the coastline and as far out from shore you could see. There were still some color in the sky, it looked to be like it was a gorgeous sunset that evening. Humpback Whales were surfacing with vibrant blows, and were vertical lunge feeding, mostly in pairs. Mom was anxious for tomorrow to come. :) I was so excited to be there. 

We got to our hotel, checked in, did all my stuff, and then we went to bed. Oh, our t.v. in our room had Disney and Nickolodeon :):):). 

Next morning we got up early and was out the door by 6:20a.m. to go to Marina State Beach for sunrise. There was absolutely no wind, but it sure was chilly. I hung out in the car watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on my Ipad til it warmed up. Mom stood outside at the front of the car taking pictures of sunrise and the whales after the sun came up. The whales were visible up and down the coast, in-close to shore looking for food. They've been feasting on anchovies (yuck). Mom only saw one whale vertical lunge feed, but missed the shot. Mom said it was very difficult to track the whales, but that was the only activity outside of them traveling, looking for food where they just surface with a blow and showing part of their bodies. Sometimes they would show their tail, but rarely since they were not diving very deep.  

We had to leave the beach that morning since we were going out on the boat with Capt Jim and Kate (Blue Ocean Whale Watch) at 10a.m. out of Moss Landing... YAY!! I couldn't wait. I love going out on their boat. 

We left the harbor seeing Sea Otters, Sea Lions and Cormorants along with Seagulls.  :)

We saw sooooo MANY Humpback Whales. Where ever you looked, you saw at least 2-20 blows. 

Most of them were feeding under the surface as the anchovies were not at the surface, but below, so there wasn't much feeding action to observe. There were TONS of Sea Lions (like in packs) with the whales. They would dive down with the whales, then they would surface right before the whales would. It was crazy! Some of the Sea Lions would just watch the whales arch their backs high, and do a tail fluke when they dive down deep. Silly Sea Lions! 

We also saw a few of the Risso's Dolphins, but not many, so they weren't too exciting for me to watch. I played my toy and watched and listened to everyone on the boat. It was so much fun! 

At one point on the trip, mom saw these four Humpback Whales surfacing together and their blows were being highlighted nicely by the sun, so she thought she would point her camera towards them waiting for them to re-surface to get a picture. They were off in the distance, but just inside camera range or so she thought. Well, while she was looking through her viewfinder waiting for them to re-surface, this flying whale appeared in her viewfinder and she took a photo and then had to pull her lens in to make the whale fit in her frame. This is the fourth image she took of this "flying" (breaching) whale: 

Only three people that mom is aware of saw this breach. This whale was with another one traveling towards our boat when it breached as they were coming over to join the big group on the other side of the boat. 

Afterwards, mom and I went to Target to pick up a few things for the weekend before heading back to Marina State Beach. When we got to Marina State Beach, the whales were still there, up and down the coastline, 50-300 yards from shore and others further out.  I got out of the car since it was so warm and hung out with mom playing my toy. There wasn't a lot of activity going on, but as soon as the sun went down, the activity started! Silly whales!

Back to the hotel.. 

Saturday morning, we went back to Marina State Beach for sunrise again. This time, the whales were feeding more (vertical lunge feeding), but mostly south of us down the coast a ways, but we could still see them. Sunrise was gorgeous again, but there was more wind and it was warmer than yesterday morning. I hung out in the car to watch my programs on my Ipad. I wasn't ready to go outside. We stayed until noon, which I hung outside with mom the last few hours. We met so many nice people (some from Sweden, NM, Germany, Bay Area). The whales were everywhere, mostly though down south from us. We saw a lot of vertical lunge feeding, tail slapping, breaching calves. Not much activity occurred in front of us, or north of us. At one point, mom counted over 40 individual whales that she could see. The majority of the whales stayed south of us, making it difficult for mom to photograph, but still enjoyed watching from shore. :)  A pretty rare opportunity.

However, earlier in the morning, there was a pair of Humpbacks that vertical lunge fed at the same time out in front of us, which mom took a picture of even though they were a little ways off-shore. When we left the beach at noon to go back to the hotel before our outing later, mom downloaded her pictures and went through them when she realized the pair she took a photo of was a mom and calf. The calf was very small. Anyway, despite that they were lunge feeding, it looked like the calf was rubbing up against mom. She loved the photo. Unfortunately, in order to really see the calf, mom had to crop in about 90%, making the file (photo) a very small size. Here is the photo. 

At 3pm, we went out on Capt Jim and Kate's boat again for a two hour trip. One of our friends from down south met us there, and was able to get on the boat since another friend from down south couldn't make the trip.  It was so nice out (warm, breezy, lake like water on the bay). We headed off-shore to a bunch of whales they encountered on their earlier trip that day. There were several large groups of whales (6-8) just logging at the surface, taking big breaths as they were resting and traveling very slow. Humpback whales will shut down one side of their body to sleep as the other side keeps working. :) 

After we got off the boat, we went back to Marina State Beach to check things out, but we only stayed about two minutes. It was PACKED with people and the whales were a little off-shore, further than what mom would be able to photograph, so we decided, since we were tired anyway, to go back to the hotel to prepare for our big day tomorrow. :) Some of our other friends from down south were there enjoying watching the whales breach, vertical lunge feed, spy-hop, tail slapping, despite them not being in really close to shore, but enough to watch. 

Sunday we had to be at Capt Jim and Kate's boat by 7:30a.m. since the boat leaves at 8am sharp. :)

 Today was the all-day whale watch trip where a lot of us from Ventura County down to San Diego County out to Inland Empire get together to go on this trip. Oh, and one from Portland, Oregon. It is a fun group of people that both mom and I like hanging out with. Plus there are always a few others we meet on other trips, and a few new ones. I was so excited that I woke up at 2:45a.m. letting mom know I was ready to go. :) Mom said, "Kayla, its not time to get up yet, go back to sleep". So I smiled and went back to sleep, lightly. Then as soon as mom's alarm went off, I was wide awake wanting to go then, so mom got us both ready and my giggles  had started. 

A few of the people on the trip on the bow of the boat at sunset. Everyone else is upstairs or out back or inside hanging with me. 
our friend Kate Cummings took this photo. 

We met some of our friends in the breakfast area of the hotel before heading to Moss Landing. I was in such a good mood and so excited. We had a great day (11 hours) on the boat where I slept the first hour in a half, then giggled, laughed, squealed the rest of the time. Well, there was two little crying episodes, but mom fixed that fast! 
Since the weather was so nice (very warm - in the 80s), mom let me sit outside with her up at the bow of the boat on the bench seat. 

our friend Christina de la Fuente took this photo of mom and I sitting up front towards the bow of the boat. 

I got to see the Humpback Whales (4 of them) go by really close to us and heard their blows. The weather and conditions couldn't be better, and sunset was gorgeous! Couldn't of asked for a better day. 

When we first headed out, Capt Jim drove the boat down towards Marina State Beach to see the Humpbacks that were along shore the past few days to get the nice dunes in the background. Well, to our surprise, there was only one mom and calf hanging out along the coast. Everywhere else, it was very quiet - no blows or any signs of any whales. Luckily, we found some a few miles off-shore. The morning before we left for home, there still were not any whales along shore or off-shore when viewing from Marina State beach. I think mom and I got lucky. 

This is what we saw: 

Humpback Whales (at least 60 individuals if not more), 

one male Transient Orca named Fat-fin (CA171b),

 lots and lots of Risso's Dolphins including a very young baby (which mom didn't get a photo of on this trip, but the other day she did). 

We also saw Sea Otters (one that was occupying the dock the boat uses when we first arrived), plus some from the boat. 

Lots and lots of Sea Lions. 

And there were White Pelicans flying just as we got out of the harbor. 

Pretty special. It was such a fun day! 

So many of our friends talked to me as I smiled and laughed in return, and a few kept asking mom "Is that Kayla?"... meaning, is that who they heard laughing and squealing. :) 

Oh, and I almost forgot... When we were watching a large group of Humpback's, one of the whales blew a jellyfish out of its blow hole. The jellyfish went flying in the air. Mom just missed the shot, but a friend of hers got it. Maybe he will let mom borrow the photo for my post. :) 

Then after the trip, a group of us went to Fisherman's Wharf for a very late dinner. Mom wasn't sure about us going because its usually windy and cold there, but so glad we went because it was warm and no wind at all. Such a nice evening. I was still laughing up a storm the whole time walking to restaurant at the end of wharf, during dinner and walking back to car. I even had other people laughing with me while we were walking. Oh, we were waiting for a friend to get something inside the candy shop where they had a Taffy machine - I loved the noise the Taffy machine was making, I was cracking up laughing. :) As we continued our walk back to the car, at the beginning of the wharf, mom saw a raccoon in the flower bed. It totally caught mom off guard she screamed and scared our friend Christina. I continued laughing. We got back to the hotel at 10:15p.m. where I was still laughing after mom put me to bed with Cubby and Mickey. 

Mom and I got up early to get ready to drive home.

It was another gorgeous morning making mom wish we didn't have to leave. I and or mom has never been to Monterey when its been so warm and no wind. On our way home, we made a quick stop in Morro Bay for lunch, and a short walk despite the high fog and cold, but muggy. We didn't stay long as we had to be home by a certain time for an appt. 

Hope everyone had a great weekend. :) 

Next post will be part two of my summer road trip.. :) 

Love,

Kayla