World Whale Day - Whale Watching 2022

In honor of World Whale Day today, a day set aside to raise awareness about these magnificent animals to help protect their lives and their ecosystem, I am sharing photos from some of my whale watching trips from last summer. I have been fascinated with whales for many years and love living near the Oregon Coast where I have often seen gray whales along the coast. I have been fortunate enough to witness a pod of orca whales passing through the area as well. But my absolute favorite whale memories to date are from the humpback whales and blue whales I have seen from several whale watching boats at various places in California.

Last August my sisters and I went to California for a few days to relax and hang out together without kids and husbands. We had the best time, and one of the things we did was take a whale watching tour out of San Francisco. We booked it on a whim and ended up having a gorgeous day on the ocean seeing dolphins, sea lions, humpback whales, and two blue whales up close! I was in absolute awe and cried at seeing the biggest animals in the world. The photos don’t even come close to the experience of seeing blue whales and their immense size.

A couple of days later, I also booked a sunset whale watching tour out of Monterey Bay on a whim. It was an amazing night seeing the humpback whales jump and frolic as the sun set over the ocean.

As far as whale watching highlights go, the next day I had a private tour with Slater Moore Photography, and it was truly a lifetime dream come true for me. I met Slater at his boat in Moss Landing and I was the only person on board with him. He took us to the whales immediately in the morning. Watching the whales breach and feed and flip their tails left me in awe, in tears, and gave me even more appreciation for these majestic animals.

I will be returning this spring for more whale watching adventures in California and I cannot wait to reunite with the whales again.