Hanging with the World’s Largest Animals Less Than 2 Hours from the Bay Area

By Emily Polsby

For several weeks in June, I had been receiving emails about sightings of numerous blue whales in Monterey Bay from a company I took a whale watching cruise with five years ago out of Moss Landing, twenty miles north of Monterey.

The emails were insistent and excited — this many blue whales hadn’t been around in ten years. Did I really want to miss my opportunity to see the largest animal ever known to have lived up close?

On that first whale watching trip with Blue Ocean Whale Watching in 2021, humpbacks had come right up next to the boat. If I hadn’t been paralyzed by sea sickness, I could have reached out and touched the barnacles on their backs.

While mind-blowing, they were nothing like the nearly 100-foot model that I remembered seeing suspended from the ceiling of the California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park. That gargantuan creature was a blue whale. Where could I see one of those?

Because Blue Ocean, who had originally solicited me, was sold out on Sunday, June 21, we booked with Sea Goddess Whale Watching, also out of Moss Landing Harbor, which is less than 2-hours’ drive from our home in Richmond if the traffic is running. They advertise the largest boats on Monterey Bay (which means they are more stable, less risk of seasickness).

Pulling out of the harbor we saw ten or so harbor seals frolicking and big gawky, prehistoric-looking brown pelicans diving awkwardly for fish.

Dozens of sea lions lined the docks, sometimes stacked on top of each other, filling the air with their honking barks. On our first whale watching trip, the harbor had been thronged with otters, peacefully floating on their backs, but although that day someone said they saw one, but I never spotted an otter.

About thirty minutes into the voyage, just when I was getting tired of hunting for the telltale spouts that let you know whales are in your vicinity, the ship’s naturalist announced that there was activity at 12 o’clock.

Sure enough, there were jets of water spraying into the air, and moments later, a whale popped up and revealed himself. And then two. The ship pulled around to give us better views of what turned out to be three whales, diving for food.

Most of the people on the boat had opted for a more expensive “VIP” experience on the top level, so the bow was relatively uncrowded, and we had great views of some frisky humpbacks, showing their off their backs and tails on dives. Humpbacks are the stars of Monterey Bay.

On the outing we took five years ago it was curious humpbacks who repeatedly swam up close to the boat and even spectacularly jumped out of the water, which is called breaching.

Breaching is when a whale leaps mostly or completely out of the water and creates a huge splash on reentry. Scientists have lots of theories about why whales breach — to send sound waves to communicate, to assert dominance, for parasite and dead skin removal, to make schools of fish consolidate for easier consumption, or maybe just for the fun of it.

After the humpbacks, we headed south to see if blue whales who had been spotted earlier that day were still there. Almost immediately, spouts appeared and people started to get excited. Earth’s largest living animal was nearby.

As we got closer, we saw two whales showing off their backs and tails, and swimming along just beneath the surface of the water, their long bodies glowing an almost eerie blue color. Blue whales are typically 70 to 90 feet, the length of two school buses, and these were about 75 feet.

Although the blues have since left Monterey Bay, they could be back, according to Captain Kate Cummings, one of the skippers at Blue Ocean Whale Watch.

“We had dozens of blue whales and fin whales appear in the bay because of the abundance of krill. Krill is their main dish, whereas other species will feed on a variety of other schooling fish. Upwelling, currents, temperature, wind, and many other variables must align perfectly to bring the large schools of krill that attract blue whales. Blue whales won’t waste their time on a small amount of food,” she says.

If the krill population ticks up again blue whales will be there, though entertaining humpbacks are typically in the Bay all year round. I had noticed how friendly they were with the boat; they almost seem to like to breach for an audience. Captain Kate notes that the boats are also spotting different species of dolphins and killer whales this summer, and there have been several sightings of the rarely seen sperm whale.

After docking, we popped 3.3 miles south to Castroville to visit the Choke Coach, home of World-Famous French-Fried Artichokes. Even though it’s the opposite direction from the Bay Area, this renowned food truck, which shares a property with Pezzini Farms market, is worth the trip for those delectable deep fried artichoke hearts.

It’s entertaining to browse in Pezzini Farms’ shop too, where you will find artichoke themed souvenirs, among other local specialties like buttery, homemade caramels from Lula’s Chocolates, a Monterey-based candy company that makes amazing treats.

There are food options right in Moss Landing too, some just steps from the harbor. In the morning before the cruise, we indulged in fresh and tasty sandwiches at the Power Plant Coffee + Café, made on spectacularly crispy ciabatta from local Ad Astra Bread Company. We savored a fantastic, flakey almond croissant, a pastry almost as big as my head from the Bees Knees Bakery, a Moss Landing-based wholesaler that can be found at farmer’s markets in Carmel and Salinas.

Both whale watching companies guarantee a whale or dolphin sighting, or your next trip is free, and Blue Ocean says that you have a 99% chance of seeing whales year-round because Moss Landing is so close to the nutrient-rich Monterey Submarine Canyon.

I have never seen a dolphin in the wild before and they offer the possibility of seeing Risso’s dolphins, Pacific white-sided dolphins, northern right-whale dolphins, bottlenose dolphins, common dolphins, Dall’s porpoises, and harbor porpoises.

We’d also like to try more of the local favorite dining options near the port, like perfectly crisp French fries at the Moss Landing Café or the famous quesabirria tacos at the El Flamingo Food Truck, open Monday through Saturday.

For those reasons, even without the promise of the elusive blues, we are planning to return to Monterey Bay soon.