My Whale of a Tale

It started out simply enough. We drove to Moss Landing, CA

Moss Landing Power Plant

We boarded our boat.

Sea Goddess, our boat

The Lovey and I, excited about our boat ride

We saw some locals...

Sea Lion sunning himself

Three sea lions arguing about who was going to sit next to whom

MBARI, with a BUNCH of birds flying above

Cormorant sitting on a pile

Sea Lion discussions

Pelicans

Pelicans

Our escort as we head to sea

We encountered some kayakers in the open sea - they were close to shore, but still far enough out that they were in danger of encountering whales. Not so smart, considering this happened last week.

Not so smart kayakers

 Our first sighting.... a glimpse of things to come:

And then we were surrounded by these giant, gentle creatures.

Now - they are heading toward the boat we are on..

I left the people in the photo so you could get an idea of how close these humpbacks were.

And then they were gone. There is a smooth spot in the water showing where they dived.

And then they came back. This is about five minutes later. Our tour guid said there were about 10 in the herd that surrounded us. Humpbacks are solitary creatures, but sometimes come together to feed.

Here's a video I took toward the end of the day. They kept on and kept on and kept on.....

Whale fin

.....And this folks, is my

...whale tail.....