Chris' Whale Watching Tours - Monterey Bay, CA

For information and reservations call us at 831.375.5951

During your tour, our guides have the ability to present marine wildlife encounters and photo opportunities with whales comfortably in the Monterey Bay. Here is some information on the whales you will see in the Monterey Bay.

Humpback Whale Mebaptera novaeagliae

What makes Humpbacks one of the most exciting whales to watch is their strange body shape and the amazing behaviors they exhibit. Humpbacks are the greatest acrobats of all the whales doing everything from raising their flukes (tail) out of the water and freezing doing something like a whale handstand. They may also slap their flukes over and over again on the surface creating cracking smacks or doing the same thing with their Huge 13 foot Pectoral fins.

Some of the most unforgettable moments with Humpback's is to see them breach (jumping). These whales can literally fly out of the water at 45 tons, equivalent to 600 humans or 11 elephants, twirling onto their sides or backs showing off their crazy shaped bodies, to land with an earth shattering crescendo. You can see the splash from the whales landing as much as a mile away sometimes.

Facts about the Humpback Whale:

Lifespan:	At least 50 years or more.
Population:	In the North Pacific is 6-8,000
Distribution:	Inshore and offshore, migrating from tropical waters to polar world waters.
Diet:	Schooling fish and krill.
Group Size:	1 to pods of 15 or more if something good is being served on the menu.
Adults:	Adult females are slightly larger than adult males. Length: 50-56' (15-17 m) Weight: 90,000 lb. (40,000 kg)
Newborns:	Length: 13-15' (4-4.6 m) Weight: Approximately 1,500 lb. (680 kg)

Blue Whales Balaenoptera Musculus

Blue whales are spectacular because you get to experience the worlds largest animal that has ever lived on the planet; even during the dinosaur era!! Nothing is or has ever been as big as the Giant blue whale getting up to 110 ft long and 400,000 lb. When these big girls give birth to their 23-26 ft long calves they nurse them as much as 50 gallons a day so the calves can gain up to 200 lb. (90 kg) a day!! Before these calves are weaned they have grown two thirds of their adult length of as much as 50 ft long in the first year of life.

The largest population of Blue whales work the waters in Monterey Bay to feast on the abundance of krill and the biggest whales can consume up to 12,000 lb of food a DAY. They are able to fill their mouth and throat grooves with several tons of tasty prey every time they take a gulping lunge. (see picture) To get some perspective and give you a mental picture of their size, the eye ball is the size of a basket ball. Their heart is the size of a V.W. bug automobile and they are equivalent to 30 elephants.

Facts about the Blue Whale:

Lifespan:	At least 70 years or more.
Population:	Off the California Coast 3,000. World total
Distribution:	Over the shelf of the Monterey submarine canyon, but mostly off shore in deep water migrating from tropical waters to polar world waters.
Diet:	Several species of krill.
Group Size:	1-2 Unless there is great concentrations of prey.
Adults:	Adult females are slightly larger than adult males. Length: 75 - 110' (23 - 33.3 m) Weight: Up to 400,000 lb. (180,000 kg)
Newborns:	Length: 23 - 26' (7 - 7.9m) Weight: Approximately 6,000 to 7,900 lb. (2,700 - 3,600 kg)

Gray Whales Eschrichtius robustus

Gray whales begin to migrate very close to the Monterey Bay coast-line near shore and even in the Bay. The whales are heading south from their known feeding grounds off of Alaska traveling to their birthing area off of Mexico. These whales have one of the longest migrations of any land or marine mammal, traveling more than 12,000 miles, streaming predictably by Monterey in November through to May, when they are headed back north for feeding again.

Gray whales tend to swim along at a slow speed coming up to shoot their billowy blow (see picture) into the air and show off their fluke (tail) as they take a dive that usually only lasts for 3-5 minutes. Some of the most spectacular sights to see with Gray whales is when they begin to have interactions with other species such as the dolphins. For some crazy unknown reason the dolphins can set the gray whales into a rolling frenzy and the whales begin to gather in larger and larger groups. Sometimes as many as 10-15 animals in a pod!

What happens next is a mystery but the dolphins seem to harass and surround the whales, riding off of their large heads and buzz (echo Locate) off the huge sensitive whales bodies. In response to these swarming dolphins the whales begin to roll over putting their bellies and chins to the sky and swish their flukes as if to shake the dolphins off of them.

Facts about the Gray Whale:

Lifespan:	At least 70 years or more.
Population:	Almost 25,000 off the eastern Pacific Ocean
Distribution:	Remaining populations of Gray whales are in the north Pacific but the last 100 animals on the far west most likely will go extinct. They are shallow, near shore, and off shore migrating from off of Mexico to the Beaufort, Bering, and Chukchi Sea's.
Diet:	Benthic amphipods are the primary diet.
Group Size:	1 - 15
Adults:	Adult females are slightly larger than adult males. Length: 49' (15 m) Weight: 80,000 lb. (35 kg)
Newborns:	Length: 12 - 15' (3.6 - 4.6 m)

Fin Whales Balaenoptera physalus

Fin whales are the "Super Speed Demons" of the ocean. Not only are they huge, they are the second largest whale in the world, but they are built like a torpedo and are so powerful that a few swishes of their fluke can propel them over 30 mph to lunge after their favorite prey being schooling fish. It is not uncommon to see these whales raise up and take off from gorging in our waters when there are Killer whales in the area and what a site that is. Killer whales, or Orca, are the only known predator to the fin whales and the Orca's can reach speeds of up to 40 mph!!!

Fin whales Might look a bit like the Big Blue whales but they have some beautiful body markings that give them away. Fin whales wear a white to grayish veil, (scientists use the term chevron and the blaze) that creates an abstract "V" shape on the back of the head that usually merges into a swirl as it drops to the lower right jaw that turns into a pure white lip. Each animals marking are totally unique. The left side of the fin whales face and lip are still dark gray to almost black! Researchers suggest that this lighter right jaw and lip aids the whales to catch their prey. When fin whales role with their right white lip towards the prey it actually helps to camouflage and allow the whales to engulf even more prey with every bite.

Facts about the Fin Whale:

Lifespan:	More than 70 years.
Population:	Numbers indicate they are recovering after whaling.
Distribution:	Worldwide, temperate to polar latitudes and can be seen in coastal, shelf, and deep open ocean waters.
Diet:	Small schooling fish and krill.
Group Size:	3 - 7 and up to 100 in feeding groups.
Adults:	Adult females are slightly larger than adult males. Length: 59 to 79' (18 - 24 m) Weight: 260,000 lb. (120,000 kg)
Newborns:	Length: 19.5 - 21' (6 - 6.5 m) Weight: 4,000 - 6,000 lb. (1,800 - 2,700 kg)

Minke Whales Balaenoptrera acutorostrata

Minke whales here off our coast and inside the Monterey Bay are the shy slinky whales that continue to be a mystery to scientists because this population disappears in the winter months and no body knows where they go! Minke's all over the world behave differently. The Minke whales here tend to be a little illusive except when they are invested in feeding activities and that's when we get our best viewing. These whales love to dine on our baby rock fish schools.

The Minke whale happens to be the smallest baleen whale out of 5 main species that come into our area and compared to body size they are really quite petite. They average in length of about 23 ft, in our area, when other Minke's are better known to reach lengths of about 30 ft.These whales have some interesting color patterns on their bodies that are key for identifying them. Minke whales are dark grey and have a pure white colorless patch running across their front pectoral fins as if they are wearing white arm bands varying in width from individual to individual. Sometimes you can even see a very pale light colored veil sweeping behind their heads in a "V" shape pattern. It is refereed to as the chevron pattern. As far as seeing more of this whale you could be on one of the lucky trips when one breaches (jumps) or spy hops out of the water. I can't miss lead you and say it happens all the time but when it does you'll just about drop to the deck with excitement!!

Facts about the Minke Whale:

Lifespan:	More than 50 years.
Population:	They are one of the most abundant whales, however, reliable information on population size is unavailable.
Distribution:	Near shore shallow to open ocean and found world wide. Migrations are variable amongst populations.
Diet:	Small schooling fish and krill.
Group Size:	1 - 3, large groups if prey is plentiful.
Adults:	Length: 23 - 33' (7 - 10 m) Weight: 10,000 - 20,000 lb. (Up to 9,200 kg)
Newborns:	Length: 8 - 9' (2.4 - 2.8 m) Weight: 710 lb. (320 kg)

Sperm Whales Physeter macrocephalus

Sperm whales come to the Monterey Bay to forage in the rich canyon and this is the whale that is best known as Moby Dick from Herman Melville's classic novel. We usually have half a dozen to a dozen individual encounters on a good year in late summer to fall. They tend to be seen on the edge or over the canyon wall as they return from the depths after dive periods that can be as long as 2 hours and 2 miles down. Yeah, these guys are amazing, but, with long dive periods and never knowing when or where they are going to come up a second viewing may be impractical. However, it's not impossible. I had my best viewing last year with a series of 4 resurfaces near the boat with short dive intervals.

The Sperm whales that come to our area are the independent mature lone bulls and there is no mistaking a Sperm whale at sea. They have the most distinctive blow (exhale) out of all whales. On a calm day their blow will shoot out of the left side of their head paralleling the ocean before it rises into a billowy puff. Why? Well, their knobby blow hole is on the left side of their head looking very odd. To add to these distinctive characteristics, they are dark brownish, often scarred up with wrinkled prune like skin making them look like they've been in a hot bath way too long!

Facts about the Sperm Whale:

Lifespan:	Up to 70 years.
Population:	Unknown.
Distribution:	Worldwide
Diet:	quid, fish, various other prey.
Adults:	Adult males are larger than females. Male Length: Up to 60' (18.3 m) Female Length: Up to 36' (11 m) Male Weight: Up to 120,000 lb. (57,000 kg) Female Weight: Up to 55,000 lb. (24,000 kg) Weight: 10,000 - 20,000 lb. (Up to 9,200 kg)
Newborns:	Length: 13' (4 m) Weight: 2,200 lb. (1,000 kg)

Beaked Whales

Beaked whales are the least known and understood whales in the world because encounters with them are so RARE . There are some beaked whales that scientists have only seen portions of their bodies and not even the entire animal. These whales may be rarely seen rather than rare because of their ability to be deep divers, staying beneath the surface for long periods and perhaps many of these species are shy of boats. The illusive behavior is problematic for us to view them as is the fact that their preferred habitat generally is in really deep water and far from land.
That's where having Monterey's deep submarine canyon in our back yards comes in handy. Because the canyon provides a deep habitat close to shore so we do get VERY RARE looks at two of the species of beaked whales that are known to live here. The Baird's beaked whale is more predominantly seen than the second, which is the Cuvier's beaked whale. Again, I will not miss lead you to think this happens often but there are a few sightings every year and they usually occur in late summer to fall. Good Luck!