It's not just that family of humpbacks spotted in the Bay in May, or these whales frollicking near Seal Rock two weeks ago there's actually hundreds more whales showing up, particularly between the Golden Gate and the Farallons, in numbers much higher than we usually see.
As ABC 7 reports, 115 whales were spotted in various spots in one hour alone on the July 4th weekend, and whale-watching boat tours are selling out.
The reason for the huge onslaught of whales? An unusually high number of anchovies swimming closer to shore, which happened last summer as well, and an apparent explosion in the tiny shrimp called krill that the whales also like to feed on, and which typically get produced in large numbers this time of year.
The ocean off our coast, by the way, is incredibly warm right now, and expected to get steadily warmer.