Discovery Whale Watch
Boat: Pacifica with Captain Danny and Naturalist Isaiah
Sightings: Humpback Whales, Velella velella, Risso’s Dolphins
This was my first trip out with Discovery Whale Watch. I’d seen signs for them while on the Wharf, and was following them on Facebook so I new a bit about them and their operations.
With a total of four boats on their roster, ganging from 50 to 60 feet in length, with a passenger capacity of 35 – 60 depending on the boat, they are able to run two at a time when demand is high. Access to their loading area is down a set of wooden stairs that have been worn by feet and weather. It’s below the main level of the wharf, and at that time of day, covered in shadows giving the compact space the feeling of a cave. The two boats were waiting for us, tied up on either side of the lower landing.
After the standard safety briefing, we loaded up and headed, first past the breakwater on the left / port side, and pier on the right / starboard side. Both areas are home to Sea Lions and birds, along with the occasional Sea Otter, so of course you have wave to them as you head into the bay!
Humpbacks
About half an hour out we saw our first humpbacks, or rather the blow spouts of a few of them.
They were hanging out, slipping under the water, coming up to rest and breath before making dives to reach the anchovies schooling below. Our Naturalist, Isaiah, counted about 4 – 5 minutes per dive, meaning they weren’t having to go very deep or stay very long to get their next course. It also meant that we didn’t see much of them at the surface.
They were kind enough to lift their tails as they started their dives, allowing us to get ID shots for many of them. I had guessed there were only two whales doing these slow dives. Turns out it was at least four whales taking turns feeding, coming up, and hanging out. I’m not sorry to be wrong because a. more whales! And b. a good reminder for me that what we see at the surface is only a part of what’s going on underneath.
We stayed with this group of whales for about ten minutes before leaving them to their meal and moving on.
Toward the end of our trip we came across either a single whale or possibly another small group, resting and feeding quietly on their own.
I submitted several ID photos to HappyWhale.com for identification, this link is specifically for my user page there which shows all the whales I’ve posted. A few days after I uploaded my photos, they identified four different whales in the first sighting including the one below, and a fifth one from the second sighting.
When whales are catalogued at HappyWhale the system either adds them to an existing listing or creates a new listing. As people add sightings that data is added to the whales’ files. This includes data for each of the documented the times and the places they’ve been seen. As new data is added, the system sends me emails with info related to “my” whales. Some like CRC 18462, have been documented off at several points along the coast of California and off of Mexico. I love seeing this expanding data set that shows me specific moments along a whale’s journey. With most of my trips being along the Pacific coast, I mostly see whales migrating from the waters off of Alaska all the way to the warm waters off of Mexico. I knew that the whales I was seeing had to be traveling the length of that migration, but to now see actually references to them in those northern and southern areas is exciting. Of course, not having a sighting in another area on the migration route doesn’t mean they don’t travel the full length, only that ID shots from those areas are not currently logged in to HappyWhale. We’ll get more data on them eventually!
Krill
As we traveled our Naturalist, Isaiah, noted that there was a lot of Krill in the bay of late, and he pointed out some clear patches of them on the surface. He dropped a bucket in the water and scooped up a few Krill to show us. Krill are very small and light in color making it hard to distinguish individuals within the school they were part. Even in the bucket they weren’t super easy to spot – but it was easier.
Isaiah also shared an image he’d drawn of the marine food web in radiating circles from zooplankton in the center up/out to the large whales.
Velella velellas
We also got to see a species I’ve been hoping to see in person: Velella velellas, also known as By the Wind Sailors. These are small, surface dwelling creatures who go where the wind takes them. They are related to jelly fish, sea anemones, and corals. They have a flat, deep blue, oval-shaped base with a small, half-circle “sail” with a pointed peak. My fascination with these sent critters me into a mini deeper dive which is over here.
They were much smaller than I was expecting. Isaiah scooped one of them up and transferred it to a paper cup with sea water to show folks. We got to touch and hold it. It was hard to work out holding one and photographing them at the same time, so this batch of photos are blurry. Thankfully we saw them again the Friday trip. I did a deeper dive into these critters that you can read here.
Risso’s Dolphins
In between Humpback whale sightings we saw a small-ish pod of Risso’s dolphins. I didn’t get many photos of them as the angle was wrong, but it was lots of fun to watch them porpoising across the waves.
As our time wound down we headed back to dock. Then it was onto the wharf for lunch, because as usual, Scott and I were ravenous afterwards.
Final thoughts on day one:
It was a beautiful day, spring crisp but not cold with soft clouds and lots of pale blue sky. With the winds mellowing out in the afternoon, I didn’t even need to zip up my coat for much of the trip. I liked the size and configuration of the boat. There was good balance between places to sit as the waves went by, and railing space to stand up and see the action. Its closer to the water than other boats I’ve been on, which makes it feel like you are closer to the whales when they turn up. The crew were all friendly, well informed, and lovely folks. This was a great trip. I’ll definitely go out with them again.