Gavin, the Whale

Gavin, the Humpback Whale, Monterey Bay

As soon as April rolls around, my mind wanders to Monterey Bay. I’ve been on a quest to see and photograph orcas off the coast of California for a few years now, and every time I go, we fail to find them.

This April, I made two attempts, each with Fast Raft. Sadly, each attempt failed to produce any orcas. We found a handful of humpbacks (Megaptera novaeangliae) during the first attempt, but we were on the water immediately after California had been battered by storm after storm. These ‘atmospheric rivers’ were historic. The naturalist on board told me they were the worst on record in Monterey, and unfortunately, the humpbacks tend to leave the bay during lousy weather. A few had just returned, so we were lucky to see any whales.

The highlight of that trip was a pair of gray whales (Eschrichtius robustus) on their migration route north. The captain of our Zodiac mentioned that gray whales weren’t his favorite to watch, and I could appreciate why. They’re not as well known, especially in Monterey, for breaching, lunge feeding, or any of the more acrobatic displays we see from humpbacks. These two were keeping an especially low profile, perhaps to avoid the unwanted attention of orcas. Still, I had been lucky enough to see humpbacks on many occasions, so gray whales were a welcome variety for me.

On the second visit, we left Moss Landing in a hazy fog. We were over deeper water quickly and immediately beside a humpback, but the visibility made things difficult. Thankfully, the sunlight would shine through periodically, and a raft of sea lions made it possible to do some photography. But then we encountered a humpback doing something I hadn’t seen before.

It raised its tail high above the water, then slammed it on the surface. It repeated this over and over again like it was beating a drum. I couldn’t believe how consistently it performed this behavior and how high it stretched over the waves. I found out later it’s known as tail slapping or bobtailing (thanks, Sharon!). There’s a possibility it’s a form of communication, but some people suspect it might be a tactic to scare fish and make it easier to forage. Either way, it was fascinating to watch.

After each trip, I uploaded a handful of my images to Happywhale. Happywhale uses citizen science techniques to track whales across the world’s oceans, identifying them from crowd-sourced photos. It’s a great way to build a deeper connection with the whales you see while helping scientists learn much more about whales and their habits.

So far, three of the whales I’ve photographed have been ID’d. The first two were Rip Curl (aka Blinker) and Didi. Rip Curl was named by Kate Spencer, the naturalist who runs the tour company I was with. She has been identified as far south as Costa Rica and as long ago as 2002. Didi is a commonly seen whale in Monterey Bay, but she’s been spotted as far south as Guerrero, Mexico.

However, The third whale was identified as HW-MN0502801, and they, to the best of their knowledge, were determined to be new to science! It was exciting to have submitted a photo of a whale that had never been ID’d before, but what’s more, I had the opportunity to name it. I donated to the nonprofit Whales of Guerrero, symbolically adopting the whale, and called it Gavin, after my son.

We’ll find out if I named a male or female whale Gavin in time, but thankfully, it’s 2023, and it’s a great time to be relaxed about gender. I can’t wait to see where Gavin is identified next.

Tail Slapping Humpback Whale, Monterey Bay

After each trip, I uploaded a handful of my images to Happywhale. Happywhale uses citizen science techniques to track whales across the world’s oceans, identifying them from crowd-sourced photos. It’s a great way to build a deeper connection with the whales you see while helping scientists learn a great deal more about whales are their habits.

So far, three of the whales I’ve photographed have been ID’d. The first two were Rip Curl (aka Blinker) and Didi. Rip Curl was named by Kate Spencer, the naturalist who runs the tour company I was with. She has been identified as far south as Costa Rica and as long ago as 2002. Didi is a commonly seen whale in Monterey Bay, but she’s been spotted as far south as Guerrero, Mexico.

The third whale, however, was identified as HW-MN0502801, and he or she, to the best of their knowledge, was determined to be new to science! It was exciting to have submitted a photo of a whale that had never been ID’d before, but what’s more, I had the opportunity to name it. I made a donation to the nonprofit Whales of Guerrero, symbolically adopting the whale, and named it Gavin, after my son.

We’ll find out if I named a male or female whale Gavin in time, but thankfully it’s 2023, and it’s a great time to be relaxed about gender. I can’t wait to see where Gavin is identified next.

Gray Whale, Monterey Bay