Captain Joe Nazar deftly guided the 65-foot catamaran Kitty Kat out of its berth in San Francico's Pier 39, beneath the Golden Gate Bridge and out to sea, a journey he’s easily made hundreds of times.
There was a time back in the 1980s when he’d make this similar trek in the hunt of fish. But these days, he chases something much larger — whales.
“Right out from the minute we leave,” Nazar said, his eyes scanning the ocean, “that’s all we care about is finding that whale.”
Behind Nazar, some 65 passengers who plunked down about $40 apiece to accompany his San Francisco Whale Tours, revealed why he was so intent on finding a whale. But thanks to an abundance of humpback whales this summer just off the Bay Area coastline, the task wasn’t all that challenging.
“If you see a spout, shout it out,” Nazar recited into the ship’s public address system, before offering a free snack to the first person to spot a whale.
“There she blows!” Nazar screamed just past Pacifica as a spout of water floated 50 yards away and quickly dissipated. Seconds later, the bent black body of a humpback skimmed the surface for a moment before retreating from view.
“Unbelievable, this is a big one!” Nazar shouted as passengers craned their necks in unison and let out a collective "Oooooh.”
Scenes like this have become standard for Nazar this year — as an unprecedented number of whales have ventured close to shore, putting on one of nature's most interesting spectacles. This summer, instead of having to make the usual 26-mile journey to the Farallone Islands to see whales, Nazar has been able to cruise less than 7 miles down the coast near Pacifica and Half Moon Bay to dazzle his customers with leviathans.
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This year, the whales have even ventured into the bay more frequently and so close to shore that Nazar’s services aren’t even always required.
“Due to the climate change and the El Nino,” Nazar said, “this has been the best whale watching year on record for me ever.”
Scientists believe the large surge of whales venturing close to shore are pursuing their favorite dish of anchovies to supplement their usual diet of krill.
“They’re going where the food is,” said naturalist Ryan Jones. “So if the food is right inside the bay, they’re going to be in the bay; if the food is offshore they’re going to be more offshore.”
While the humpbacks have been Nazar's bread and butter, on weekends he will extend his tours to the Farallone islands to see blue and gray whales. He marveled that tourists in San Francisco could be shopping in Union Square and an hour later come face-to-spout with some of the world’s largest living creatures.
“Because of the locality of the whales this year,” Nazar said, “allows people, especially tourists to get on a boat in two-and-a-half hours to have a tremendous whale experience.”
As a group of five whales frolicked in the distance, Rosie Sanchez of Texas watched silently from the ship’s bow, occasionally whispering “awesome” as the whales ever-so-fleetingly revealed themselves.
“We saw some coming up, and it was amazing,” Sanchez said, “I never see anything like that before.”
The sight was certainly foreign to young Libby Robson of London, England, who watched a humpback flip its tail into the air before diving deep.
“They had fat bodies and long tails,” Robson observed. “It was really good fun, and if I could, I’d come again.”
Whatever excitement the whales generated for the visitors, it was tame compared to the jubilation of the group’s host -- who celebrated every time a whale cut the surface.
“Oh my God,” Nazar said spotting a pair of whales breaking into view. “Finding whales is magical.”
