California blue whale numbers on the rebound

[shenmue]

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-29069515

Hooray!

[NYC_SKP]

1. Yay, indeed! I saw three humpbacks two weeks ago, it changed my life.

I went on one whale watching trip years ago and it was sort of cool.

But this last one was unexpected, I was just having coffee and looked up.

I'm still in awe of them, and I wish we would stop screwing up our shared environment.

K/R

[R B Garr]

4. That is awesome! I would be thrilled.

They are absolutely magnificent. We thought we saw one on a drive down Pacific Coast Highway leaving Monterey and were all excited, but it was from such a distance. Still exciting, though.

[NYC_SKP]

5. Cool! It's tricky cuz they don't stay up very long.

But they do seem to come up several times, so you stop and watch and wait if you can.

I was trying like heck to take iPhone pics but was shaking with excitement. Eventually I just chilled out and grabbed binoculars and that's when I saw three.

[BlueCaliDem]

2. Yes! Yes! YES!

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[logosoco]

3. Good news!

Keeps my hope going! I hope this trend continues and the groups impacting the population do not become complacent with this news.

[freshwest]

6. Great story to wake up to~

[DFW]

7. I've never seen a blue whale, but just being next to one of these is awe-inspiring:

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Off the coast of Cape Cod in the summer, humpbacks come in droves, and sometimes, it's not clear who is watching whom.

[kmlisle]

8. Wonderful!

This is true of the Grays as well - 22,000 approx in the Eastern population, 200 on the western side of the Pacific. Its all about Whaling.

Heard a great story from a guide on a whaling boat out of San Diego. The small ship is about 100 feet long and one time she was out and 3 Fin whales - close to size of the Blue came up and the Captain freaked out because they were as long as his ship! They seemed curious about what kind of "whale" it was and made a circle around it and then swam off. Wish I had been there. We did see humpback that day.

I guess the whale watching off the coast near Monterrey sees lots of Blues in the Summer (July is the peak). The reason they are so common close to shore is the 2000 foot deep Monterrey Canyon comes right into shore at Mossy Bluff about 20 miles to the North and provides great feeding grounds for all kinds of sea life. Great place to to take a whale watching tour and definitely on my bucket list to go back and see Blues!