The town of Monterey lies across Monterey Bay about 20 nautical miles directly south of Santa Cruz. The prevailing northwest wind in the late summer and early fall means that the trip is usually a pleasant 3-4 hour downwind sail without even a single tack or change of course required. Our forecast was typical of this time of year, calling for 5-15 knots from the northwest.
One of our morning errands- vaccinations in preparation for Mexico
After breakfast and a few errands ashore, we pulled up the anchor in the early afternoon and hoisted the sails to find wind out of the south-southwest instead of the northwest. A strong breeze from that direction could lead to a sporty sail, but this was only between 5 and 10 knots. So, instead of a nice downwind spinnaker run, we sailed close-hauled into the light breeze. With less than a foot of swell, almost no chop because of the light wind, and sunny skies, conditions on the water were about as good as they get. If sailing were always this way, a lot more people would have boats!
The sailing doesn’t get much better than this…
Most of Monterey Bay is only a few hundred feet deep, but the middle section is bisected by a deep underwater canyon that cleaves the continental shelf. Depths drop to thousands of feet (and more than ten thousand feet in the canyon a bit further out of the bay), and one result is upwelling of cold, nutrient-rich water. This water is perfect for krill to feed on, and krill is the humpback whale’s favorite food.
One of the many humpbacks we saw on our way to Monterey
We saw 15-20 humpbacks feeding as we sailed south, including 4-5 lunge feeding at the surface. The telltale signs are typically a swarm of birds on the surface combined with some boiling action in the water. When we see that combination, we watch the area and are usually rewarded with a view of a 5-10 foot wide mouth erupting through the water’s surface to catch a large mouthful of food.
Angie in whale watching position
