Both Eric and I had mixed feeling about taking a whale watching cruise, but the time was right for the northern migration of the California gray whales back up to the Bering Sea along the coast of California, so we gave it a go.

I bought some dramamine from the onboard shop just before we sailed off and I am very happy I did. My eyes were pleasantly focused on the horizon while others around me were feeling pretty awful due to the Pacific Ocean waves.

You can’t see it from our photos but there were about 7 or 8 boats crowding around these two whales. Law states that you cannot approach within 100 yards of a whale, but folks in motorized rafts were whizzing by and it wasn’t just the whales that were getting agitated.

Of course seeing the whales in the wild was exciting, but overall the experience left me cold. It certainly didn’t seem worth the harassment of the whales for a few fluke photos.

Another highlight of the trip was the lovely views of the city and harbor when we came back into port.

Even the seals were showing off.

The “No Trespassing” sign is a nice touch but I don’t think it’s working.

On another note, our Garmin helped us immensely throughout this trip. It even showed us how to get back to shore. :)

(That big chunk of land at the top where all the roads stop is Mexico.)