Whale Watching Tour

Well, we’ve reached the near end of our road trip that started on July 4th! We began our trek back to Kansas City, but have to stop in Nebraska at my parents to pick up Erik’s new ride. Not surprisingly, I still have a lot to blog about, as we’ve done so many things these past few weeks.  One of the highlights for me was whale watching!

Whale Watching

I’ve always wanted to see a whale in its natural habitat. I remember distinctly one day in kindergarten when my teacher told us whales were as long as the back end of our classroom all the way out to the end of the playground and I thought it was CRAZY. Ha, I think that’s what first sparked my interest.

After Googling a good place to go on a whale watching tour, Monterey Bay came up. So on the way to San Francisco, we stayed in Monterey a night and booked a whale watching tour with the Monterey Bay Whale Watch Center.

I loved it! We got to see the following:

• Many different  birds
• Moon Jellyfish
• Sea Lions
• 10 Humpback Whales
• 2 Blue Whales
• 100 Risso Dolphins
• 100 Northern Right-Whale Dolphins
• 1 Elephant Seal
• 1 Mola Mola

 

Our tour lasted about 4 hours, beginning at 9 a.m. At one point at the end of our tour, we were surrounded  by hundreds of dolphins, with multiple whales coming up to blow.
 
  

My thoughts?

• I loved it, and would definitely go on another whale watching tour!
• We (obviously) went in July and it was very chilly! Even though they do tell you to dress warm, I only had a thin hoodie on with another thin jacket and was cold. On hindsight, I would have worn gloves, a thicker sweatshirt or coat, and had a hat to cover my ears.
• Our morning tour was about $50 a ticket, with Monterey Bay Whale Watch and lasted about four hours. The staff on our boat were great;  very knowledgeable, and you could tell they all very much cared about the whales and were really in it to observe the marine life and to educate each tour. They’re great about not hurrying, and will even linger if you are around a lot of whale activity.

In summary, I was very happy with our experience, would certainly recommend Monterey Bay Whale Watch for tours!  Tomorrow is another day on the road for us, but for now a little resting before bed with some Whale Wars. (How appropriate, right? Ha).