Fast Raft

Go, kid, go! This new kid on the block, a possible calf or maybe yearling who's not in the catalog yet, gave us a great show of breaching on Sunday afternoon. It even got curious with our boat. Autumn is fantastic on Monterey Bay! Fast Raft Ocean Safaris on Monterey Bay, California Tickets & Info: www.fastraft.com... We're taking requests for holiday tours and charters. Email us: [email protected] Mask wearing, social distancing, and sanitizing are in effect.

A peaceful sea otter morning to you. This fellow is probably a bit too habituated to humans and was foraging and then grooming right next to the dock between tours on Saturday. We see otters on every trip as they live right inside the harbor. Fast Raft Ocean Safaris on Monterey Bay, California... Tickets & Info: www.fastraft.com See more

That "unphotographable" humpback calf encounter happened again, and for much longer. This time I was prepared with a shorter lens. Stay tunedmore to come. As you can see, Autumn is a fantastic time to come whale watching in California. Join us! Fast Raft Ocean Safaris on Monterey Bay, CA... Tickets & Info: www.fastraft.com Social distancing, sanitizing, and masks wearing are in effect. We're taking reservations for the holidays by email: [email protected].

This is what you get when the whales lunge-feed too close for your 300mm telephoto! Friday was glorious on Monterey Bay. Autumn brings some of our best weather of the year and many humpbacks are here scooping up anchovies. Get away from it all for a few hours with us! Fast Raft Ocean Safaris on Monterey Bay, California ... Tickets & info: www.fastraft.com Social distancing, sanitizing, and mask wearing are all in effect.

Whale watching and the weather both continue to be excellent on Monterey Bay! We've been seeing bouts of surface lunge feeding most trips and plenty of whales feeding on deeper food. Come join us! We've opened up a trip for this coming Sunday, October 25th and there are still four tickets left. Availabilities and tickets at https://fastraft.com. Or e-mail [email protected] for more information.

The un-photographable moment: When a humpback calf surfaces so close to the drifting Fast Raft that we just hope it doesn't scrape the boat with the barnacles on its tail! This calf has gotten friendly with several boats recently and today was our lucky day. He'd "mugged" our friends on the Blue Ocean Whale Watch boat, and then surprised us by coming up so close that inchoate screams came out of Captain Kate Spencer. Then he popped up, knobby chin first, on the other side of... the boat. Then he appeared by the bow. Edit: We've determined that this calf was not Halo, but a lookalike! Halo has been around a lot and also has an almost completely white tail and a mom with a black tail. Halo's mom, Angel Wing CRC-12111, got very friendly with the Fast Raft in 2015. Here's the video from that previous wonderful encounter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cY1H8f5_Bbc&t=321s Join us! Humpbacks are in Monterey Bay year-round nowadays, and so are our tours. We're taking reservations for the holidays now. www.fastraft.com Fast Raft Ocean Safaris on Monterey Bay, California

Amazing things happen even in the fog. P.S. There's an anchovy that got away on this whale's back. Look closely. Monterey Bay has one the greatest diversity of marine mammal species you can see anywhere in the world, from blue whales and offshore dolphins to killer whales of three ecotypes to sea otters and sea lions. The humpback whale population has rebounded to where we see them almost every day of the year, sometimes doing spectacular surface lunge-feeding, like this one... on Sunday, 10/18/20. We don't see everything every day, and yet every day is different and special. Join us! Our tours are year-round and we're taking special requests for holiday charters now. Fast Raft Ocean Safaris on Monterey Bay, California www.fastraft.com Contact by email: [email protected]

Fuzzball cuteness alert! There's a newborn sea otter pup in our harbor. This mother was grooming her little one and letting it nurse near our boat slip in Moss Landing on Wednesday. Fast Raft Ocean Safaris on Monterey Bay, California www.fastraft.com

These gorgeous people were here again today! Mature male CA50B and the family he's hanging out with, now that his mother, appears to have died (perhaps of old age; we don't know). There are lots of humpbacks in Monterey Bay too. We have added November tours to our calendar. Join us! Fast Raft Ocean Safaris on Monterey Bay, California Tickets & info: www. fastraft.com

Killer whales today! A family of five visited Moss Landing and then headed back out along the canyon. We also saw lunge-feeding humpback whales and huge rafts of sea lions. All of this with calm seas and sunshine. October is a great month on Monterey Bay, and second only to Springtime for orca sightings. Join us! Tickets & info: www.fastraft.com Fast Raft Ocean Safaris on Monterey Bay, California

There's been a lot of this lately! Humpback whales mouthing off, surface feeding in the October sunshine on Monterey Bay. This is our most summery weather and there are lots of whales in the Bay. Come on out! Fast Raft Ocean Safaris on Monterey Bay, California Tickets & info: www.fastraft.com... Social distancing, masks required, boat sanitized between tours, plenty of fresh air.

Blue whale flukes in the sun on our All Day Expedition today, 10/10/20. We saw lots of humpback whales, including three cow-calf pairs and surface feeding, three fin whales, Risso's dolphins, and Bixby Bridge in Big Sur! October is wonderful on Monterey Bay. Join us for some fresh ocean air and socially-distanced, masked, marine wilderness fun: www.fastraft.com... Be sure to bookmark the live seafloor hydrophone that broadcasts 24/7 on the web from the mouth of Monterey Bay there are lots of humpbacks singing lately, especially at night. Check it out here: https://www.mbari.org/soundscape-listening-room/