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 California Sea Lions, Harbor Seals, Elephant Seals and Northern Fur Seals in the Monterey Bay.

California Sea Lions in the Monterey Bay have become a favorite animal to see on every trip. Our population tends to be an almost all male group as the lady's are located down in Southern California off the Channel Islands. We like to take a look at these animals as we head out so you can see them hauled out to sun bathe and rest up for their night time feeding.

California Sea Lions are quite social, gregarious fellows and will pop out of the water leaping like dolphins to take a better look at what the folks on the boat are doing. This leaping Sea Lion put on quite a show trying to be cuter and more entertaining than the humpbacks near the boat.

Harbor seals can be seen all around our coast line and on low tides you might see them perched up high like plump sausages teetering on the rocky outcropping's along the oceans edge. The Harbor seals look different than the sea lions; the first thing you will notice is that they are covered in spots and vary greatly in color from pure silvery white to almost pitch black. I like to think of them as the "Dalmatians" of the Pinniped (meaning Flipper footed-seals and sea lion) family . The Harbor seals give birth right here on our local beaches each spring in April to May and during our trips we see their little round heads bobbing along as they to tend to be mostly nocturnal predators.

Elephant Seals are the biggest pinnipeds in the world and are huge! The large males can get up to 15' long and weigh as much as 5,000 lbs. They got there name Elephant seal not just because of their size but because of their crazy looking trunk like nose. If you are down wind of the males "trumpeting" for females and defending their territories you can hear them up to two miles away.

When we see these guys at sea they are often resting with their giant heads poking out in such a way that they earned the name "Old Men of the Sea" . They are very amazing swimmers setting records of deep diving-up to two miles down, long ranges to get to favored feeding grounds, and holding their breath for 2 hours!

Northern Fur Seals are much more rare in our area compared to the other pinnipeds and they can be easily mistaken for California Sea lions if you don't take a good look at them. The small youngsters when grooming their thick fur coats can also be mistaken for sea otters because otters will do a similar rubbing/grooming behavior of their coats. The key to recognizing these fabulous creatures is to note the distinctive pose they hold while resting. It is called the "Tea Cup Handle" pose. They will take their hind flippers and role them back out of the water looping them over their bodies to touch their front flippers creating the handle of a tea cup.