On The Waters of Monterey Bay

Work sent me on a trip to San Jose, California for a week of training and me being me the first thing I looked up was how close I was to the ocean and if there were any whale trips I could take. I found a trip offered by Santa Cruz Whale Watching booked it and headed down to San Jose. Saturday came and I headed to the coast and on to the water. I will preface this trip summary with the notion that no whales were spotted sadly, but that is how the tides flow sometimes. Today though the tides were really flowing and the seas were about 6 feet and lets just say I missed my large Island Explorer Catamaran. But despite a little wobbling and moments looking at the horizon the trip was good. Right off the bat I spotted a handful of Brown Pelicans swimming off the side of the boat beside us. I quickly learned though that these guys are about as common as Gulls down here. While out on our search we did find to Mola Mola (Ocean Sunfish) however due to the nature of how they lay underwater and the boats lower profile seeing more than a dorsal glimpse was tricky, but I saw them! The highlight of the trip though for me was the two Sea Otters that we found near the end. One of the Sea Otters was playfully swimming around while the other was hopelessly tangled up in some kelp to stay put. While I would have loved to have seen a Humpback or another whale down here to add to my collection any day out on the water is a good day and I enjoyed the opportunity!