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Was ‘Whale Bathing' Invented by a Santa Cruzan in Pacifica?

From the bluffs above the waves in San Mateo County, you can watch humpbacks breach—and feel the power of nature.

By Hilltromper staff

August 6, 2024—This is a good time to witness one of the best nature shows in California: humpback whales leaping, lunge-feeding, and slapping the waves with their giant wing-like fins. And one of the best places to see the show from shore is just up the coast on the ocean-view bluffs of San Mateo County.

(Sure, we can see humpbacks here in Santa Cruz, but north of Año Nuevo Point and the county line, the viewing is even more spectacular.)

The humpbacks’ journey is magnificent in two ways. First, they each travel nearly 10,000 miles from Mexico and Central America to California and British Columbia in one of the longest migrations of any species on the planet. Second, as a species, they have made a miraculous comeback from nearly the edge of extinction in just the last 50 years (although climate change poses a challenge).

This week over on Hilltromper Silicon Valley, find an inspiring account (initially inspired by Hilltromper social media!), by our own Bridget Lyons, of an experience she calls “whale bathing.”

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