Sailing from Santa Cruz to Monterey was absolutely full of excitement. As we left a 25' sailboat ran aground on the beach (the wind had died, presumably they had engine trouble?). 🌊⛵️💥 Fifteen minutes later we were surrounded by no less than ten humpback whales, many of which were male as they were signing up a storm (females don't sing). They were breaching, tail-slapping and having a fantastic time, from all appearances. 🐋 Nick ran below for only the briefest of seconds, and two huge males surfaced directly behind us, no more than 100 feet away, and made what sounded like barking sounds. We nearly jumped out of our skin! At 40' long, it was apparent Salt is about the same width as a humpback, but nowhere near its length. The males trailed us and checked us out for a mile or so, and then swam off to rejoin the group. 🐋🌊🐋🌊🐋🌊 Nick again attempts to venture down below (a stiff drink what's required after the aforementioned startle) only to hear me bellowing from deck, "There's something off the bow, it's moving fast... wait, there are multiples, wait, they have huge dorsal fins... OMG, what the hell is that?!" A pod of Risso's Dolphins (aka Monk Dolphins) were racing and playing along side us. 🐬🐬🐬Apparently they normally hunt at night, and at depths of 500+ feet so this was a particularly special sighting for us. We made I into the harbor, anchored out, and are currently relaxing to a little classical music in the cockpit. A little winding down was necessary after the excitement and joy of the sail today. 🤗☀️ #sailing #sail #monterey #montereybay #anchoredout #atanchor #sunset #picoftheday #sailors #humpbacks #humpbackwhales #rissos #rissosdolphin #santacruz #wegowherethewindgoes #bahahaha2017