IT WOULD BE ONE HELL OF A COINCIDENCE if Shearwater were her given surname. Shearwaters are one of the main species that Deb Shearwater, the legendary guide for pelagic birds in northern California, searches for. Though not the ship’s captain, Deb is undeniably in charge. Her trips are regularly sold out and you do what she says or walk the plank.
Deb Shearwater Bullers Shearwater
Yes, it was billed as an all-day birding trip and, yes, we did see thousands of birds representing 25 different species but the highlight wasn’t the birds. The whales stole the show — a score of spouting fin and blue whales and about 50 humpbacks.
Blue Whale Fin Whale
Lunge feeding humpbacks California Sea lions
It was the first time we had seen blue whales, the largest animal ever to inhabit earth at 100 feet and 300,000 pounds! And the humpies were lunge feeding, knifing with open maws out of the water through schools of anchovies, sharing the bounty with California sea lions and flocks of sea birds.
