I don’t know if it’s the warm weather and the warm seas, but it’s been a whale of a season in Long Beach these days. Those preceding links were the start of my autumn days with the whales.

I’m so glad to see them, but I’m also happy to see them go. I’d like to see them away from the whirling steel props of boats and ships.

I’ve been biking the boards and trekking the sands with my heavy—for me anyway—gear.

But it’s been worth it because the whales were so close to shore:

Recently, it appeared that the fishermen were a bit nonchalant about the tonnage of mammals bursting from the sea:

Many of these photos are cropped of course, to give you a better view of the action:

Sometimes it seemed at Washington Ave on Nov 7th, there were boats and whales everywhere:

I got some pretty detailed shots on November 9th at Lincoln Ave Beach:

Fishermen came from all over:

Smaller boats had fun too:

As I’ve said before, looking at the sea for blasts of vapor is one way I find the whales. But the most effective is to be alert when people are pointing. Often, they spot the whales for me.

Also, watch for birds and boats coming together. They are following the bait fish, as are dolphins…

…and whales:

This gull does a close flyover…

…looking for baitfish survivors:

Of course, most of the time, through the viewfinder, I couldn’t see what I had captured very well.

At home, my photos showed a whale near two boats. Was one taking on water because that whale pounced and flooded it?

The whale goes under as the second boat moves over:

A close up as the second boat draws near:

Finally, in later frames, I see the “distressed” boat floating along while admiring the birds.

My photos simply caught the boat in the trough of a wave.

Had me fooled.

You too, maybe?

This was the closest I saw the whales to our shore this year. There are even reports of them coming into our bays and channels.

At Washington Ave Beach, this couple could almost be sprayed by the whale’s vapor:

Sometimes, they are so close to shore that it’s as if you were on a boat amidst them:

Whales like to corral baitfish against shores and sandbars. Farther out, they corral them with bubble nets, then charge through the middle to gorge on them.

It was high tide, but in the relatively shallow waters, I could still capture one in a partial breach.

Baitfish fly as the whale gulps them in:

Sometimes so many baitfish ping the surface it’s a dead giveaway…

…that a whale is close behind:

Until I got home, I hadn’t seen that this whale, farther off Lincoln Beach, was so close to climbing aboard this small boat:

The tiny boat lists toward starboard:

As it lists further, the starboard gunnel seems to be touching the sea, while a man on the boat appears next to the whale:

I presume all ended well. I looked for “Whale tips boat off Long Beach” on Google and our local Long Beach Patch. All good for both man and boat.

I think.

October and November are the best times to see whales off our Long Beach shore. So, they are not expected to be here much longer. We have a 2.2-mile benched boardwalk on which you can sit, stroll, exercise, and whale watch—free.

Lincoln Blvd is a great choice. There are usually many surfers, too, and open restrooms—sadly, not all boardwalk restrooms are—and there’s a fantastic boardwalk food shack, Lazar’s Glizzy.

But once again, I saw the juxtaposition of nature against shipping commerce. Of course, we need commerce. Undoubtedly, this keyboard I’m typing on for you was aboard a ship like this, and so was your image screen.

But we also need to protect what is precious to us.

Our tiny blue planet has an onion-skin atmosphere that allows life. This onion skin is our home; we need to protect our home by standing our ground.

However riveting wildlife can be for us, it is not just a show to enjoy. These majestic creatures need our protection, and so does all wildlife.

So, whenever you can, please support conserving wildlife in the air, land, and water.

Let’s enjoy wildlife, but let’s protect it, too. Maybe these Brother and Sister mammals we dearly love will remind us of that long after they’ve moved on.

Be well,

Leebythesea