Whilst in America I went on two separate Whale watching trips. I'd decided before going on the holiday that I was determined to go on one in Boston, but it was after the success of that trip that I decided to go on another in Los Angeles. The coastal area around the United States is abundant in marine life - seals, sea lions, dolphins and of course whales, and I knew I had to make the most of the opportunities to see them as possible.
Depending on the time of year, there's opportunities to see a wide variety of whale species. When we visited the US, Humpback Whales were in abundance along the east and west coast, but it is also possible, if you're lucky, to see Orca (Killer Whales), Minke Whales, Gray Whales and even Blue Whales. When I visited however, September for Boston and October for LA, Humpback Whales were the only whales in the area.
In Los Angeles, Blue Whale season tends to be from June to September/October, whereas Gray Whale season is later, starting around December and going on to May. Orca sightings however are even rarer. Whilst talking to someone who worked on the boat, I discovered that only one sighting has been made over the past few years, a brief glimpse of a pod of five Orca. I can only imagine how amazing that must have been.
Please forgive the quality of the photos, unfortunately a moving boat coupled with a moving whale, doesn't allow for the best photographs when using a small camera. I took these 3 images whilst in Boston. This particular Humpback Whale fully breached the water roughly 20 times. We did see a number of other whales, including some Minke Whales, but this one was particularly playful. For this trip I traveled with Boston Harbor Cruises.
In LA however, I saw a larger range of animals whilst out on the boat, but only one Sperm Whale. I saw Pelicans, Sea Lions, and Common Dolphins whilst travelling up the coast.
As well as this beauty - Scarlett, the Humpback Whale. So called because her red back. The red is caused by a type of harmless lice growing on her back. For this trip I traveled with Harbor Breeze Cruises from Long Beach.
