October 2015 - We went whale watching for the first time, drawn by news that the unusually warm water has brought a record number of humpback whales to Monterey Bay. These whales spend their winter in warm waters near the equator and travel thousands of miles north to feed on krill and anchovies along the California coast. The peak activities probably took place earlier in the summer. For fear that we may miss this historic year altogether, we finally found time to board a boat in Santa Cruz. The first half of the cruise was not promising, as we were seeing only a few whales at a great distance. Then our luck turned. With just about half an hour left, we had several amazing close encounters with these majestic creatures. A couple of whales swam underneath our boat, and we could actually smell their very pungent breath. Our only regret was that we did not get to see breaching (when a whale launches itself out of the water). Maybe next time.