Blue whales in the bay, quite a sight to see

Memorial Day weekend is always a busy time for whale watching companies. Add to that a rare visit by blue whales, and trips are selling out fast.

Santosh Gade and his family wanted to get on the 12:30 p.m. tour on Saturday, but only the last trip of the day was available.

“I should have booked it online,” he said with a smile, still grateful he got on a trip.

The Gades came down from Redwood City specifically to see the blue whales.

News is traveling far and wide about the huge influx, thanks in part to social media. Monterey Bay Whale Watch has been posting videos online and they’re getting thousands and thousands of views.

The blue whales showed up last week. Marine Biologist Nancy Black said they’re here to feed on an abundant amount of krill.

“Blue whales, they feed only on krill,” Black said. “So they’re only here when the krill is good. So this is one of the best places in the world right now to see blue whales.”

Marine experts say they haven’t seen this many blue whales in 6 years.

Back in 2010, the phones were also ringing off the hook for whale watching tickets.

“We were jamming, the phone was back to back to back for day after day after day,” Anne Frank with Monterey Bay Whale Watch said. “We had to hire folks, typically our kids’ friends… come in here and answer the phone for us.”

Next door, Princess Monterey Whale Watching is also filling up fast and sharing photographs and videos of blue whales on their Facebook page as well.

“It’s spectacular, doesn’t get better than this,” Benji Shake with Princess Monterey Whale Watching said.

There’s no telling how long the blue whales will stick around, but people are definitely taking advantage of seeing the world’s largest animal in person.