Whale Watch

Hummingbird at Marina RV Park - Marina, CA

Fishing Boats

Blimp

Tail Fin of Humpback Whale

Humpback Whale

Pelican at Fisherman's Wharf

Seal Island

Seal Island at Fisherman's Wharf

Yesterday, Roger & I decided to go on a Whale Watch.  It was an unusually clear, calm & warm day, so we thought that we'd head out on the ocean.  We made a great choice!  The tour we went on took us out about 12 miles from the wharf.  The boat we were on was called the Pacific Princess which was a nice large boat with about 30 passengers on our trip.  At some points during the cruise, we hit seas rolling to about 10 foot swells.  Roger was totally intrigued by the rolling seas, I was more impressed with the sites of the mountains from the ocean and how beautiful the area of Monterey/Pacific Grove is.

On the way out, we passed some of the fishing trolleys.     When we got closer to whale site area, one of the passengers spotted a "blow" off in the West.  The Captain followed her directions and low and behold, we came upon 2 Humpbacks.  Humpbacks are gentle giants, they are so graceful in the water and love to come pretty close to the sightseeing tour boats and "check us out".  They "blow" 2-3 times and then when they roll out of the water with their tail fin out, they will be under from anywhere of 2-8 minutes and can stay under up to 15 minutes.  We spent at least a half hour watching them and really got to enjoy them!

On our way back we spotted a blimp heading toward the San Francisco area.  They probably were going to be doing some overhead shots of AT&T Park.  People in this area are, of course, very excited about the San Francisco Giants being in the World Series.  We also stumbled upon some Sea Lions and Dolphins who were looking for fishing boat "left overs".

Once we got closer to the Wharf, we were able to hear all of the sea lions on Seal Island.  What a terrible smell and you talk about noise!  There had to be hundreds of seals on the breaker/island - all males.  The females are further South this time of year.

As a quick addition, I'm adding a couple of pictures that I took this morning of the Ruby Throated Hummingbirds that are feeding off of our feeder outside the dining room window at our RV park.  I just love watching them dart in and out and then sit in the tree.  Needless to say "we are loving it here"!