Today I signed up for a whale watch tour with Sanctuary Whale Watch - owned by a boat captain and a marine biologist. They have the only boat for whale watching that runs on bio-diesel (ie environmentally friendly) and part of the proceeds from the ticket price go to the Monterey Bay Aquarium Marine Research Center. We met at their dock in Moss Landing, California. About 1 1/2 hours south of South San Francisco and about a 1/2 north of Monterey Bay by car. Allowing for traffic, I got there a few hours early and decided to explore the area.
Moss Landing is near Castroville, which is the "Artichoke Capital of the World". Norma Jean (Marilyn Monroe) was crowned in 1947 as the first Artichoke Queen! It was really neat to see how artichokes grow. I passed by field after field of Artichokes, strawberries, lettuce, etc. Fields of sprinklers watering the plants, or tractors harvesting or numerous field hands walking in synchronized rows weeding and spraying the plants. California is where a large part of the produce in your supermarket comes from. It was both amazing and horrifying to see it produced on such a large scale.
I had an early lunch at The Whole Enchilada in Moss Landing. And of course, I had to order something artichoke from menu. I went with the fresh artichoke with salsa and cilantro/lime mayo on the side. It sounded and looked good (picture below). But fresh artichoke is extremely fibrous and hard to chew. I gave up about a 1/4 of the way through. But the taste was absolutely delicious! Next time I'll have to try the fried artichoke, which is advertised everywhere. After lunch I drove around a bit, and browsed through a few antique stores and fresh vegetable markets. I decided on one more stop before heading to the dock: The Haute Enchilada, owned by the same people. It was cold and foggy in Moss Landing, despite the gorgeous sun on the drive down. So I opted for hot tea and dessert. And given the theme of the morning, I decided on the Artichoke cake. It was very good! Actually more like a spice cake with small, virtually unnoticeable pieces of artichoke, cream cheese frosting and walnuts.
After my artichoke feast, I was feeling pretty darn full. Too late remembering that the instructions for the whale watch said to be careful what you ate beforehand in case of sea sickness. They really emphasized this in their advanced directions, on their web site and in the their pre-boarding talk. Before you get too nervous, and while I DO get air sick, I do not and did not get sea sick. I actually love the feel of the boat rocking underneath, and the feel of the salt spray in the air. Layered up in the warmest clothes I brought, I stayed pretty warm until the trip back. My feet had gotten wet from some waves coming in the back of the boat at the bottom while we were stationary to watch the whales. And I was freezing on the way back, but unwilling to go inside because I didn't want to miss any minute of the setting sun on the ocean.
The boat was a 43 footer. The tour has the license for a capacity of 39, but they only take out a maximum of 28 so that everyone gets a good view. They stay out longer than any other tour and go farther to ensure that you get to see whales. They even guarantee it! Captain Mike was nice and very informative. The first whale we saw just off the coast was a Humpback Whale. Apparently he's been hanging out there for a while. The captains have named him "Stinky" because when he opens his mouth to feed, if you're downwind...... We got to see an actual side roll and he waved a fin at us. He was feeding in 12 ft deep water - shallow for him, so had to go on his side a bit to do so. Stinky was a bit shy, and after the fin wave and few dorsal views, he dove and gave a last wave of his tale. So we headed out to see to find more. Of course, my camera died at this point. But I don't really have the type of camera necessary to get really good, fast, long distance shots anyway. So I didn't mind so much. I was enjoying the ocean and being on the boat!
We also got to see a lot sea lions - who are curious about the boat and like to pop out of the water with a gust of breath to look at us and then swim away. One did follow us for a bit. There were lots of otters swimming on their backs and cracking open mussels. We also saw seagulls, cormorants, Murres and pelicans. The pelicans made great shows diving straight down into the water for fish.
Guide John Carlo was a cutie who made sure everyone was having a good time. He passed around an actual baleen plate from a whale - made of keratin, it's what they filter through to feed.
John Carlo also got to climb on top of the boat to look for whales! About an hour before we returned, we all heard his excited yell, "Orcas, everyone!" This was the best part of the trip. We found a pod of migrant Orca whales - with a few babies. They gave us a phenomenal show. John Carlo and Capt. Mike both said they were even impressed by it! They were leaping out of the water, diving, and leaping again. We even got a suprise splash when one leaped out of the water about 20 feet off the side of the boat and made huge splash into the boat! It was amazing!!! They were waving dorsal fins and tails, and raising their heads, mouth open, out of the water! Even if I had a camera that would have captured it, which I don't, I was so astounded I couldn't have taken one picture. Everybody was all but high fiving each other and exclaiming every time one leaped. Capt. Mike explained that Migrant Orcas rarely come into the bay area - they are meat eaters and come hunting sea lions, etc. But occasionally a pod will come in - like this one. There are other types of Orcas who live in the area, but don't eat meat. When the pod had enough in that area, they dove under and didn't reappear.
The ride back was cold. But we were all exhilarated and tired after the 5 hour trip! The sun was setting just as we reached the dock area; and Capt. Mike circled to give us a view of the "Sea Lion dock". They gave over one whole dock to the sea lions to sleep on. There were probably over a hundred male sea lions piled up, smelling horribly fishy, and bawling at us and each other. Although there were a few who carried scars and some who just lazily watched us float by! I did see a sign as we loaded on the boat that afternoon that cautioned you to stay away from them - as they do sometimes come onto the other docks. And as we passed the rows of boats to find our own slip, I saw a pair of sea lions on the edge of a dock - one of them kept knocking the other one off into the water like a game of king of the hill! And the other kept jumping back on and bawling at the first one!
Walking back up the dock after disembarking felt weird as I got my "land legs" somewhat back. And I was happy to crank up the heat in the car on the way home. A full moon was shining over the tops of the hills as I drove back to San Francisco. All in all, it was a great day!
Moss Landing is near Castroville, which is the "Artichoke Capital of the World". Norma Jean (Marilyn Monroe) was crowned in 1947 as the first Artichoke Queen! It was really neat to see how artichokes grow. I passed by field after field of Artichokes, strawberries, lettuce, etc. Fields of sprinklers watering the plants, or tractors harvesting or numerous field hands walking in synchronized rows weeding and spraying the plants. California is where a large part of the produce in your supermarket comes from. It was both amazing and horrifying to see it produced on such a large scale.
I had an early lunch at The Whole Enchilada in Moss Landing. And of course, I had to order something artichoke from menu. I went with the fresh artichoke with salsa and cilantro/lime mayo on the side. It sounded and looked good (picture below). But fresh artichoke is extremely fibrous and hard to chew. I gave up about a 1/4 of the way through. But the taste was absolutely delicious! Next time I'll have to try the fried artichoke, which is advertised everywhere. After lunch I drove around a bit, and browsed through a few antique stores and fresh vegetable markets. I decided on one more stop before heading to the dock: The Haute Enchilada, owned by the same people. It was cold and foggy in Moss Landing, despite the gorgeous sun on the drive down. So I opted for hot tea and dessert. And given the theme of the morning, I decided on the Artichoke cake. It was very good! Actually more like a spice cake with small, virtually unnoticeable pieces of artichoke, cream cheese frosting and walnuts.
After my artichoke feast, I was feeling pretty darn full. Too late remembering that the instructions for the whale watch said to be careful what you ate beforehand in case of sea sickness. They really emphasized this in their advanced directions, on their web site and in the their pre-boarding talk. Before you get too nervous, and while I DO get air sick, I do not and did not get sea sick. I actually love the feel of the boat rocking underneath, and the feel of the salt spray in the air. Layered up in the warmest clothes I brought, I stayed pretty warm until the trip back. My feet had gotten wet from some waves coming in the back of the boat at the bottom while we were stationary to watch the whales. And I was freezing on the way back, but unwilling to go inside because I didn't want to miss any minute of the setting sun on the ocean.
The boat was a 43 footer. The tour has the license for a capacity of 39, but they only take out a maximum of 28 so that everyone gets a good view. They stay out longer than any other tour and go farther to ensure that you get to see whales. They even guarantee it! Captain Mike was nice and very informative. The first whale we saw just off the coast was a Humpback Whale. Apparently he's been hanging out there for a while. The captains have named him "Stinky" because when he opens his mouth to feed, if you're downwind...... We got to see an actual side roll and he waved a fin at us. He was feeding in 12 ft deep water - shallow for him, so had to go on his side a bit to do so. Stinky was a bit shy, and after the fin wave and few dorsal views, he dove and gave a last wave of his tale. So we headed out to see to find more. Of course, my camera died at this point. But I don't really have the type of camera necessary to get really good, fast, long distance shots anyway. So I didn't mind so much. I was enjoying the ocean and being on the boat!
We also got to see a lot sea lions - who are curious about the boat and like to pop out of the water with a gust of breath to look at us and then swim away. One did follow us for a bit. There were lots of otters swimming on their backs and cracking open mussels. We also saw seagulls, cormorants, Murres and pelicans. The pelicans made great shows diving straight down into the water for fish.
Guide John Carlo was a cutie who made sure everyone was having a good time. He passed around an actual baleen plate from a whale - made of keratin, it's what they filter through to feed.
John Carlo also got to climb on top of the boat to look for whales! About an hour before we returned, we all heard his excited yell, "Orcas, everyone!" This was the best part of the trip. We found a pod of migrant Orca whales - with a few babies. They gave us a phenomenal show. John Carlo and Capt. Mike both said they were even impressed by it! They were leaping out of the water, diving, and leaping again. We even got a suprise splash when one leaped out of the water about 20 feet off the side of the boat and made huge splash into the boat! It was amazing!!! They were waving dorsal fins and tails, and raising their heads, mouth open, out of the water! Even if I had a camera that would have captured it, which I don't, I was so astounded I couldn't have taken one picture. Everybody was all but high fiving each other and exclaiming every time one leaped. Capt. Mike explained that Migrant Orcas rarely come into the bay area - they are meat eaters and come hunting sea lions, etc. But occasionally a pod will come in - like this one. There are other types of Orcas who live in the area, but don't eat meat. When the pod had enough in that area, they dove under and didn't reappear.
The ride back was cold. But we were all exhilarated and tired after the 5 hour trip! The sun was setting just as we reached the dock area; and Capt. Mike circled to give us a view of the "Sea Lion dock". They gave over one whole dock to the sea lions to sleep on. There were probably over a hundred male sea lions piled up, smelling horribly fishy, and bawling at us and each other. Although there were a few who carried scars and some who just lazily watched us float by! I did see a sign as we loaded on the boat that afternoon that cautioned you to stay away from them - as they do sometimes come onto the other docks. And as we passed the rows of boats to find our own slip, I saw a pair of sea lions on the edge of a dock - one of them kept knocking the other one off into the water like a game of king of the hill! And the other kept jumping back on and bawling at the first one!
Walking back up the dock after disembarking felt weird as I got my "land legs" somewhat back. And I was happy to crank up the heat in the car on the way home. A full moon was shining over the tops of the hills as I drove back to San Francisco. All in all, it was a great day!
Orcas - awesome!
ReplyDeleteWe did the Elkhorn Slough last year in Artichoke Country and I was amazed by all the types of birds and how noisy the sea lions are! So glad you had good weather and a lot of sea life to see!