Monterey Bay Whale Watching Tours and Aquarium

One of the most popular places in the world to go whale watching is in Monterey, California, a small seaside community located approximately 120 miles south of San Francisco along the coast of the Pacific Ocean and Monterey Bay. The town is named for the bay it overlooks and is also home to the Monterey Canyon and the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. The bay is visible on a coastal map of central California as a small notch almost directly below the San Francisco area.

A huge variety of seasonal marine creatures can be seen from tours in and around Monterey Bay including the popular Blue Whale and Humpback Whale, along with Killer Whales, numerous species of dolphins including bottlenose dolphins, many different kinds of seabirds and even the occasional elephant seal or sea turtle. Leatherback Sea Turtles migrate from Indonesia to the Monterey Bay area, a trip of some 8,700 miles, to feed on jellyfish. Some 26 species of marine mammals have been observed along with over 90 species of seabirds and a variety of other marine life. One particularly popular species are the sea otters, which are featured on the Monterey Bay Aquarium's "sea otter cam" and in the aquarium's exhibit. Sea otters inhabit the kelp forest near the shore of the bay and feed on abalone, crabs and urchins.

The Monterey Bay aquarium sea otter exhibit allows visitors to watch the animals up close as the aquarium staff trains and feeds them. The animals that inhabit the aquarium exhibit were rescued and are no longer capable of surviving in the wild. The aquarium also sponsors a donation and charity drive to help offset the costs of maintaining the otter exhibit and habitat within the aquarium complex.

The aquarium offers a mini-tour of the surrounding ocean environment with their million-gallon "Outer Bay" exhibit, home to an incredible variety of sea life which would normally be impossible to view, even on the most elaborate Monterey Bay whale watching tour. The Outer Bay is home to large species of sharks, sea turtles, tuna and the largest permanent collection of jellyfish species in the U.S. The aquarium is sometimes open late in the evenings for extended tours of the various exhibits, and offers live jazz entertainment along with its other events and attractions. The Monterey Bay Aquarium is located in Monterey not far from the bay itself.

There are also massive kelp beds near the shore of Monterey Bay known as "kelp forests." This combined with an upswelling phenomenon that produces large plankton blooms provides all of the species in the bay with sufficient food, which helps explain the enormous diversity of creatures which populate or migrate through Monterey Bay.

Most of the tours available for whale watching in Monterey Bay are staffed by experienced ship's captains and marine biologists. Some of the tour operators like Sam's Fishing Fleet have been organizing tours for whale watchers and fishing excursions for almost 100 years, while Princess Monterey Whale Watching operates vessels of up to 100 feet (almost as big as a blue whale, but not quite), that are equipped with glass bottoms to make underwater observation of various species easier and more enjoyable for guests on the tour. Some of the tour companies also offer charters for educational groups and special events.

The reason this region is ideally suited for whale watching is because of the migration of gray whales from the Bering Sea to the oceans off Baja California each winter. Between December and March, a period which comprises the peak occurrence of migration for the gray whales, it is common for whale watching tours to encounter very large numbers of the great whales, including the blue whale, which is the largest animal on Earth, growing to some 100 feet and over 200 tons in weight. These whales pass just about every major California beach and coastal area on their journey to the waters off Baja, a region which is just south of the Pacific Ocean off the San Diego coast.

Most experienced whale watchers recommend that guests planning to attend whale watching tours bring all the necessary gear. Ocean trips can be cold, windy and wet, and there is also the issue of motion and sea sickness. As with any beach trip, sunscreen, sunglasses and hats are also useful on most occasions from time to time.

Many of the tours available to go whale watching are conducted aboard ships equipped with a variety of high technology equipment designed to make the tour more enjoyable and to make it easier to see whales in their natural habitat. Experienced whale watchers usually bring all kinds of equipment to aid in long distance viewing of whales as they surface, but newcomers often find that the audio visual equipment aboard most of the ships provides them with a way to see whales and other creatures like dolphins, seals or seabirds they might otherwise miss.

Whale watching is most definitely a seasonal activity, since different species are only visible at certain times of the year, usually coinciding with migration patterns of larger species like the gray and humpback whale.