Humpbacks and Friends 8/17/25
It was a stellar day for whale watching in Pacifica - probably the best we’ve had so far this season. And to top it off, we had the return of Pinky! We also had another visit from CRC-22503 (who really needs to get named), which is a whale that has been frequenting our shores quite regularly recently. While most of the whale watchers were on the pier, several of us decided to brave the spray from the breaking waves and photograph from the beach. I like the lower angles you get that way. We had at least 5 whales (confirmed when all 5 spouted at the same time), and I would estimate it was at least 6 and probably 7 whales. They started the day early - I spotted the first one just after 7am. Most of them stayed throughout the day, though they were moving around a lot - sometimes on the north side of the pier, sometimes the south, sometimes around Mori Point, sometimes moving deeper and sometimes coming in closer. The anchovies were really running. Several times I saw a whole sea of them surface and jump above the surface, which usually means a whale is chasing them to the surface, but there was no whale (at least not that I saw or that surfaced near them). It was a beautiful day, especially compared to yesterday, and a wonderful day to be out with our cetacean friends.