Fast Raft

11/30/2024

DEAL! 15% OFF all Gift Cards and scheduled tickets with code
🔥SMALLBIZ2024🔥 for an unforgettable gift!

Valid for online purchases Small Business Saturday through Cyber Monday (11/30–12/2/24)

Gift cards can be used toward tickets any time. Our 2025 tours are available now on our website! We see whales all winter, too!

🐳🐬https://fastraft.com🐬🐳

Questions? Message us or call 831-324-4883

⭐️Tickets for daily tours and more info at www.fastraft.com.

🌊Fast Raft Ocean Safaris on Monterey Bay, California
✨The original small boat whale watching safaris, since 2014

🔹Our knowledgeable, experienced guides tailor each trip to you on our super-special 6-passenger, 600-hp, 33-foot military RIB 🚤 boat🚀

🌎3-hour trips, All Day Expeditions, and Private Charters year-round on Monterey Bay, California from peaceful Moss Landing Harbor (between Santa Cruz and Monterey)

Explore the beautiful Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary on our whale watching tour! See humpbacks, orcas, blue whales, and dolphins! Book your tour today!

11/22/2024

Hey International Bird Rescue! We spotted a good-looking released brown pelican in Moss Landing Harbor on Nov. 20. The blue band reads CH6. It's molting into gorgeous adult breeding plumage. It's always heartening to see a wildlife rehabilitation success!

IBR developed the oiled bird washing and rehab protocols you hear about in Dawn commercials. They're not far from us in Fairfield, north San Francisco Bay and deploy overseas whenever there are serious oil spills. They've taught the techniques to local responders in many countries. We even helped them release a Laysan Albatross offshore during Covid!

We hope you'll consider supporting this fantastic wildlife nonprofit this giving season!

11/18/2024

Look closely at this breaching young humpback...it lost part of its left flipper—to killer whales!

It has orca teeth rake marks on both flippers, even on its dorsal fin, and all over its tail. It must have survived an attack when it was a newborn. Yet here it is leaping out of the water, right in front of Moss Landing Marine Laboratory. Such resilience!

It was a close call, with that much damage. Its huge mother must have fended off the ocean's top predators when this whale was a very young calf. There's never been a confirmed attack by orcas on humpback calves in Monterey Bay, but it's documented in Mexico and Central America where our California-Oregon feeding population goes to breed. Then she protected it while it healed and grew strong enough to become independent at around a year old. It's a new individual that's not in the catalog yet.

We saw it breach twice on Sunday, Nov. 17th. All day it was feeding alone and sometimes with a couple other small companions near Moss Landing Harbor. We also saw lots of adult humpbacks and over a dozen orcas several miles away (Aurora's family and the Smileys). But don't worry, they were busy looking for sea lions.

Join us! There are whales to see year-round in Monterey Bay and tickets are on sale for 2025. 🔥

⭐️Tickets for daily tours and more info at www.fastraft.com.

🌊Fast Raft Ocean Safaris on Monterey Bay, California
✨The original small boat whale watching safaris, since 2014

🔹Our knowledgeable, experienced guides tailor each trip to you on our super-special 6-passenger, 600-hp, 33-foot military RIB 🚤 boat🚀

🌎3-hour trips, All Day Expeditions, and Private Charters year-round on Monterey Bay, California from peaceful Moss Landing Harbor (between Santa Cruz and Monterey)

Photos by Captain ©Kate Spencer, Nov. 17, 2024

11/18/2024

Orcas galore today! Aurora's tiny two-month-old calf (CA51A5) looks adorably healthy, and we were treated to the Smileys (CA202
& kids) plus friends in an echelon of eight. Venerable male Glacier (CA20) was picturesque in the autumn light. Uncle Jimmy (CA50B) was off on his own. Thanks to Blue Ocean Whale Watch for finding them and to the California Killer Whale Project for IDs.

We also saw over a dozen humpback whales including grand dame Flopsy (CRC-10059) who's been feeding near Moss Landing after weaning her third known calf three weeks ago. A breaching young humpback revealed a surprise—stay tuned!

Join us! Monterey Bay has whales year-round.

⭐️Tickets for daily tours and more info at https://fastraft.com or link in bio.

🌊Fast Raft Ocean Safaris on Monterey Bay, California
✨The original small boat whale watching safaris, since 2014

🔹Our knowledgeable, experienced guides tailor each trip to you on our super-special 6-passenger, 600-hp, 33-foot military RIB 🚤 boat🚀

🌎3-hour trips, All Day Expeditions, and Private Charters year-round on Monterey Bay, California from peaceful Moss Landing Harbor (between Santa Cruz and Monterey)

Photos by Captain ©Kate Spencer, Nov. 17, 2024

11/18/2024

Orcas galore today! Aurora's tiny two-month-old calf (CA51A5) looks adorably healthy, and we were treated to the Smileys (CA202
& kids) plus friends in an echelon of eight. Venerable male Glacier (CA20) was picturesque in the autumn light. Uncle Jimmy (CA50B) was off on his own. Thanks to Blue Ocean Whale Watch for finding them and to the California Killer Whale Project for IDs.

We also saw over a dozen humpback whales including grand dame Flopsy (CRC-10059) who's been feeding near Moss Landing after weaning her third known calf three weeks ago. A breaching young humpback revealed a surprise—stay tuned!

Join us! Monterey Bay has whales year-round.

⭐️Tickets for daily tours and more info at www.fastraft.com

🌊Fast Raft Ocean Safaris on Monterey Bay, California
✨The original small boat whale watching safaris, since 2014

🔹Our knowledgeable, experienced guides tailor each trip to you on our super-special 6-passenger, 600-hp, 33-foot military RIB 🚤 boat🚀

🌎3-hour trips, All Day Expeditions, and Private Charters year-round on Monterey Bay, California from peaceful Moss Landing Harbor (between Santa Cruz and Monterey)

Photos by Captain ©Kate Spencer, Nov. 17, 2024

11/10/2024

Arctic seabirds and feasting humpbacks make November wonderful. Welcome back to the Northern Fulmars, tube-nosed cousins of the albatrosses, who arrive when the Sooty Shearwaters leave for their sub-Antarctic breeding islands. Pacific Loons are migrating by. Seas have been calm for kids to enjoy the whales.

Join us! More nice days ahead after Monday's rain passes.

⭐️Tickets for daily tours and more info at www.fastraft.com

🌊Fast Raft Ocean Safaris on Monterey Bay, California
✨The original small boat whale watching safaris, since 2014

🔹Our knowledgeable, experienced guides tailor each trip to you on our super-special 6-passenger, 600-hp, 33-foot military RIB 🚤 boat🚀

🌎3-hour trips, All Day Expeditions, and Private Charters year-round on Monterey Bay, California from peaceful Moss Landing Harbor (between Santa Cruz and Monterey)

Photos by Captain ©Kate Spencer

11/05/2024

Monterey Bay's whales and Happywhale in the news! In case you missed it here's NBC's feature showing how photo-identification works to track individual humpbacks and get the big picture of their incredible comeback after commercial hunting ended. Our colleague Ted Cheeseman and NBC Chief Environmental Correspondent Anne Thompson came out with Captain Kate Spencer in September. Enjoy!

11/05/2024

Just another gorgeous sunny day on Monterey Bay. These three young humpback whales, and nearby some of their elders plus a cow-calf pair, passed the day diving into a dense layer of anchovies near Moss Landing Harbor. Great weather forecast this week!

⭐️Tickets for daily tours and more info at www.fastraft.com

🌊Fast Raft Ocean Safaris on Monterey Bay, California
✨The original small boat whale watching safaris, since 2014

🔹Our knowledgeable, experienced guides tailor each trip to you on our super-special 6-passenger, 600-hp, 33-foot military RIB 🚤 boat🚀

🌎3-hour trips, All Day Expeditions, and Private Charters year-round on Monterey Bay, California from peaceful Moss Landing Harbor (between Santa Cruz and Monterey)

Photo by Captain ©Kate Spencer

11/03/2024

A rare sight--Flopsy upside-down tail-lobbing!

A male with fresh scratches from jostling other males was following her closely (identified as CRC-15225 via Happywhale). Maybe she was telling him off? This grand old dame, known as CRC-10059 since 1986, weaned her latest calf just two weeks ago. She's busy eating!

Females usually calve every two to three years, but Flopsy, who's always thin due to injuries from an entanglement in her early life, waited ten years since her 2014 calf, and five years before that. We hope she sticks around Monterey Bay gorging on anchovies as long as she needs.

Join us! We've opened extra trips this week for the great weather forecast.

Tickets & info: https://fastraft.com

Video by Captain ©Kate Spencer, Friday Nov. 1, 2024

10/28/2024

Every day, new stories, even if it's just peaceful watching on silky seas. Here's a taste from today, Sunday 10-27: a young humpback, Pacific white-sided dolphins, beloved old Flopsy who weaned her calf a week ago, a resting raft of California sea lions. Quiet. Serene.

We've had some mind-blowing days lately that we haven't even begun to show you.

More fabulous weather is expected later this week after a front passes through. Humpbacks may feed in good numbers through November and some are likely to stay all winter, when we also will see migrating gray whales. Join us!

⭐️Tickets for daily tours and more info at www.fastraft.com

🌊Fast Raft Ocean Safaris on Monterey Bay, California
✨The original small boat whale watching safaris, since 2014

🔹Our knowledgeable, experienced guides tailor each trip to you on our super-special 6-passenger, 600-hp, 33-foot military RIB 🚤 boat🚀

🌎3-hour trips, All Day Expeditions, and Private Charters year-round on Monterey Bay, California from peaceful Moss Landing Harbor (between Santa Cruz and Monterey)

Photos by Captain ©Kate Spencer

👇👇👇

10/26/2024

Welcome back from the Arctic to this beautiful Northern Fulmar!
Fulmars are a tubenosed cousin of the albatrosses, who replace the Sooty Shearwaters as the numerous wave-skimmer in our California coastal winters.

Autumn brings loons, grebes, Elegant Terns, phalaropes, jaegers, and much more. And yes, still many-many-many humpback whales to Monterey Bay. There's too much going on to fit in one caption.

Join us!

⭐️Tickets for daily tours and more info at www.fastraft.com

🌊Fast Raft Ocean Safaris on Monterey Bay, California
✨The original small boat whale watching safaris, since 2014

🔹Our knowledgeable, experienced guides tailor each trip to you on our super-special 6-passenger, 600-hp, 33-foot military RIB 🚤 boat🚀

🌎3-hour trips, All Day Expeditions, and Private Charters year-round on Monterey Bay, California from peaceful Moss Landing Harbor (between Santa Cruz and Monterey)

Photo by Captain ©Kate Spencer

10/23/2024

We're thrilled to share Happywhale founder Ted Cheeseman on the NBC Nightly News, filmed on our boat with Captain Kate Spencer, Artist & Naturalist! This web version is much longer than the broadcast or social media clips—check it out!

It's enormously satisfying to support this invaluable scientific venture that is revolutionizing whale tracking, population science, and behavioral ecology worldwide.

Kate contributed 80,000 photos to Happywhale early on to help train the AI that now matches whale flukes instantly.
Kate nicknamed the elegant whale Monet in the clip. Sharp eyes might even spot the venerable Flopsy's tail on screen. They're both still feeding here!

It's great that NBC included video clips from so many of our colleagues around Monterey Bay and beyond, too.

The entire whale watching network and the whales themselves are all better because of Happywhale. Thank you for your hard work, Ted, and hooray for humpbacks!

A program that tracks the movement of humpback whales uses artificial intelligence and photographs of the whales' tails to track their movements. People who take photos of the whales can submit them as part of the project. NBC News' Anne Thompson reports.

10/21/2024

The weather has been beautiful out the last couple of days! Though a bit of wind is expected tomorrow, we expect most of the week to be delightful.

We've been seeing a lot of humpbacks being active at the surface. A lot of pectoral flipper slapping in this video!

But watching something like this, while delightful, can become amazing with a little spice at the end! Watch for the surprise!

Join us! ⭐️Tickets for daily tours and more info at www.fastraft.com

🌊Fast Raft Ocean Safaris on Monterey Bay, California

✨The original small boat whale watching safaris, since 2014

🔹Our knowledgeable, experienced guides tailor each trip to you on our super-special 6-passenger, 600-hp, 33-foot military RIB 🚤 boat🚀

🌎3-hour trips, All Day Expeditions, and Private Charters year-round on Monterey Bay, California from peaceful Moss Landing Harbor (between Santa Cruz and Monterey)

Video by Don Baccus

10/19/2024

Andi gave us rainbows today!

Andi, CA51A2, has a little notch just below the tip of her dorsal fin. She's one of Aurora's two adult daughters who both have year-old calves—and sure enough, little Astrid popped up right next to her. Grandma Aurora CA51A, her newborn, and her uncle(?) Jimmy, CA50B, were nearby. That's four generations!

It's just fantastic that the CA51As are still around Monterey Bay. They've been seen most days for the past two weeks! Aurora probably doesn't want to travel far with her tiny calf who's just a month old now. There are plenty of sea lions around (they've taken over the picnic tables along the Recreation Trail inside Monterey Harbor! Go see them! 😂 ) so there's food, and the northern end of the bay is protected if they want calm waters. We hope they'll extend their stay.

And get this: Just a few days ago, Aurora's mother, Star CA51 was seen here with her other kids, who are Aurora's siblings: Bumper, Orion, and Comet (we missed them but are just happy they were here). How cool is that? Four generations, two matrilines of a mother and her oldest daughter each leading their families, and all the clan apparently doing well.

Oh yeah—lots of humpbacks are still here too! Some wind passed through on Thursday and now it's forecast to be mild again for several days. October is a fantastic time on Monterey Bay.

Join us! ⭐️Tickets for daily tours and more info at www.fastraft.com

🌊Fast Raft Ocean Safaris on Monterey Bay, California
✨The original small boat whale watching safaris, since 2014

🔹Our knowledgeable, experienced guides tailor each trip to you on our super-special 6-passenger, 600-hp, 33-foot military RIB 🚤 boat🚀

🌎3-hour trips, All Day Expeditions, and Private Charters year-round on Monterey Bay, California from peaceful Moss Landing Harbor (between Santa Cruz and Monterey)

Photos by Captain ©Kate Spencer, Oct. 18, 2024

10/11/2024

Guess who's out there again today? Yes, it's Jimmy CA50B there, tail-lobbing near the Fast Raft, while swimming with the whole CA51A family. And there are dozens of humpback whales near Moss Landing too.

Thanks to Captain Brian Phan who was working with our friends at Blue Ocean Whale Watch today for the photo.

Come on out! www.fastraft.com

10/11/2024

On September 27th, we had the pleasure of being the first boat to document the existence of a new calf born to the matriarch of the CA51As killer whales/orcas, "Aurora".

We've made several posts about this family of killer whales, including a spectacular sunset photo taken the same evening by one of our Captains, Kaelyn DeYoung.

I've cropped this photo heavily and have adjusted the exposure and contrast to bring out some details (this is Don). In the original you can't really see the calf as the two are backlit and almost black in the frame. But here you can see the nearly-newborn calf with its cute baby dorsal fin right next to Aurora. If you look to the left, near the wake being left by the two, you can see two vertical lines in the skin. These are fetal folds caused by the fetus being folded in half while in the uterus.

I'm making this post to provide some cool information that's been uncovered in the two weeks since it was first seen.

Aurora was last seen without a calf on September 18th. That afternoon she disappeared and she very likely was seeking isolation while in labor and while giving birth. The odds seem high that she gave birth later that day or night, or perhaps on the 19th. That means the calf was a maximum of 9 days old when first seen!

Aurora has two adult daughters that are either seen with her or nearby, Andi and Dipper. Andi has a daughter nicknamed Astrid, while Dipper has a younger daughter named Nova. Astrid and Nova are both calves. And now Aurora has a new calf, s*x undetermined thus far, that is currently at most 23 days old!

That's a lot of females!

They're being seen from near Moss Landing to the northwest about 8 miles almost every day since. Including today, just about 5 miles from Moss Landing!

Consider joining us soon for a chance to see this family, humpbacks, and who knows what else!

Tickets for daily tours and more info at www.fastraft.com

10/11/2024

Sound up!
Here's a taste of trumpeting, from one of several competitive groups of male humpback whales near Moss Landing. This kind of breeding season behavior has only been seen here in California for a few years--and it's happening earlier and earlier before migration. This year it started in August! They're really going at it now, on breaks from gorging themselves on massive schools of anchovies.

Come check it out!

Tours tickets: www.fastraft.com