Whales!! In beautiful Monterey California - July 28, 2014

It was my big birthday weekend and after celebrating with friends and family we capped it off with a whale watching trip.  It was amazing  The pictures cannot begin to capture the magic of watching these mammoth creatures moving in the water.

We watched a magical dance I had not heard of before.  Apparently it is not unusual when food is plentiful for the whales and sea lions to share the feast.  In a synchronized dance the seal lions would bubble to the surface in a concise circle.  They looked like a bubbling cauldron of bouncing brown heads and tails.  Within a minute of this the whales would come.  They would rise slowly around the circle of sea lions and blow their spouts.  Great geysers of water would fly into the air.  After some casual swimming around the whales would make one last arch, flip the tail and dive down.  Within seconds of the whale dive the sea lions would follow and suddenly, the water was still again, as if nothing had happened.  We watched this dance several times, running about every 5 minutes

In addition to the whales and sea lions we saw otters, pelicans, and many other sea birds.