Humpback and Gray Whales
Humpback and Gray Whales 5/11/23, Pacifica Pier. I was excited to get my first Humpback shots of the season. I had started reheating some wings for lunch when I looked out and saw some tail slapping. I shut off the oven, grabbed my camera and dashed out to the pier. There were definitely at least 4 Humpbacks and more likely at least 5. They tended to stay fairly far away (between 1/2 to over 1 mile), though one came in a little closer - maybe 1/4 mile or so.
After the activity died down, I started putting on my backpack to head home when a Gray whale surfaced right next to the pier. I was completely surprised by this one - I hadn’t seen any spouts or indications it was in the area. Unfortunately I couldn’t grab my camera in time, so missed the very close shot. But I did manage to get a few shots. At first I was convinced it was alone. After a few “how did he get *there*?” moments, I started to suspect there may be two. And my final look, what I saw seemed a lot smaller, so I think maybe this was the mother/calf pair that’s been in the area for over a week now.
