Whale Watching Report

The temperature was cold outside today but the gray whales didn't seem to mind. Before we left the dock today Captain Mike spotted one gray whale on the west side of Jetty Island. As we motored out to take a look we spotted two California sea lions each on it's own channel marker. Soon we were on scene with the gray whale, and it turned out that there were two instead of one. They were in very shallow water so we weren't able to get very close and they were staying down for longer than usual. So, we decided to look for more gray whales in deeper water, and before long we had spotted two more gray whales swimming in deeper water near the southeast side of Hat Island. Patch, #49, and #22 were swimming our way and we watched them for about forty five minutes as they surfaced a multitude of times close together. They didn't appear to be doing any deep dives. We decided to circumnavigate Hat Island next in order to look for more wildlife. Our plan paid off when we spotted one bald eagle standing on the shoreline and two more bald eagles chasing each other around. To finish off our day we visited Patch and #22 for one last look. It turned out to be our best views of the day as both gray whales swam very close giving our passengers some awesome viewing. Other wildlife spotted today included harbor seals, western grebes, a variety of cormorants, and lots of common loons. Naturalist Bart Rulon