Humboldt County's Humpback Whales

02/19/2025

Tasmania

Authorities say 90 false killer whales will be euthanased following unsuccessful refloating attempts. It follows the mass-stranding of a group of more than 150 false killer whales near Arthur River in Tasmania.

08/07/2024

Surfing pal Tanner on the left, me on the right.

Surfed at a popular exaggerated local Humboldt sand bar today, and while coming in to walk up the beach on a lap round, in knee deep water I stumbled over a whale rib laying on the sandy bottom. I walked it and my board to the beach and left it there while I went out for more waves. What species? Gray? Humpback? Dunno.

When the sesh was finished I carried my board and the whale rib up to my truck but later decided to leave it at the beach. I prefer not bringing significant items like this home. You never know what the juju might be.

I left it at the beach where I found it. I said a few words for the whale who gave its life. We get whale remnants frequently in this area as would be expected.

03/12/2024

How amazing are sharks? I swim with them a number of times every week, not on purpose and not aware of their presence under my surfboard. They are somewhere out there as I peer across the horizon.

My great niece Alina Parsons swims with them on purpose, a totally amazing enlightening thing to do. They actually defy the ability of words to describe them.

This one, the Greenland Shark, can live from between 250 to 500 years. According to one article on Yahoo by Cassidy Ward, a Greenland Shark alive today could have been alive when the Wright Brothers first flew in 1903. That same shark could have living grandparents who were around when Galileo first looked at Jupiter through a telescope.

There's something to think about.

https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/greenland-shark.html #

Scientists estimate the Greenland shark lives at least 250 years. They may live over 500 years.

02/18/2024

After albacore fishing out 30 miles, we were on our way in to Humboldt Bay when we spotted humpback whales bubble net feeding. This herky-jerky video was taken 20 miles offshore from Humboldt Bay on September 21st, 2022. Matti Anton Nylander gave out a little shout to alert me and we investigated. Apologies ahead of time if it makes you seasick. You'll see them slapping the surface with their tails and fins but also you will see their noses pop up above the surface in perfect unison with each other. I realize I should make an effort to stabilize the image but I'll work on that later. There are amazing things to be seen if you go out far enough.

02/16/2024

2 years ago 16 miles offshore from Eureka, California. I used a little DJI drone and it was a little nerve-wracking landing it back on my little 15 foot boat. They are close to a mile away. You'll see one breach about 1:15 into the video way out there in the farthest slick and then I was able to fly the drone out to them. At the end in the boat closeup, you'll notice some fuel sheen on the water. The night before this there was a 20,000 gallon fuel dump from a United Airlines flight about 30 miles offshore due to an inflight emergency and return to SF0. These were the same to whales that some of these other still pictures came from. I posted this earlier, a couple of years ago on my personal FB page.

02/14/2024

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61556501033532&mibextid=ZbWKwL

A visual window to Humpback Whale activity 15 to 30 miles offshore from Humboldt

02/14/2024

14 miles out from Trinidad, California in Humboldt County. Photo by my daughter Allison Curtis. We were about 1 mile away from the whale here.

02/14/2024

15 miles out, a little bubble net feeding going on.

02/11/2024

15 miles out from Trinidad, California we observed this Humpback breaching. In this photo it is landing outside down with its belly up. The photo is by Allison Curtis and was taken in the summer of 2022.

02/08/2024

Enjoy the photographs, most of which are taken by Allison Curtis. Most of these photos are taken in the region 10 to 30 miles offshore from Humboldt from our small 16 foot boat.