Whale-Watching on the Pacific Coast Easily Identify Whales, Dolphins, and Other Marine Mammals

About this book

Seeing a whale is an experience unlike any other. You wait, you hope, and when a beautiful creature breaks the ocean surface, the moment is as thrilling as it is unforgettable. Whether you're a tourist on vacation or a local resident on a day trip, keep this book close at hand. Written by environmental educator and Emmy Award-winning documentary film producer Stan Minasian, it features more than 20 species of whales, dolphins, and porpoises.

The tabbed booklet is applicable to the coastal waters of California, Oregon, Washington, Canada, and Alaska. It provides a brief introduction to cetaceans (marine mammals) and outlines what to expect when watching whales from land or while on a cruise. The guide also presents the best land-based locations for whale-watching, organized by state. The pocket-size format is much easier to use than laminated foldouts, and the tear-resistant pages help to make the spiral-bound book durable in the field.

As an added bonus, the guide introduces present-day threats to whales and discusses US laws that help to protect whales, including the Marine Mammals Protection Act. The book documents specific requirements that whale-watching vessels must adhere to, like how far away they must remain from various whale species, and it even outlines details about a phone hotline and a smartphone app that you can access if you spot a whale in trouble.

Contents

- Adventure Quick Guides
- About Whales and Whale-Watching
- Conservation
- What to Expect
- Before You Go: What to Know (and Bring)
- Meet the Whales, Dolphins, and Porpoises
- Quick Reference Guide
- Where to Find Whale-Watching Vessels
- Land-Based Whale-Watching Destinations: Alaska and Canada
- Land-Based Whale-Watching Destinations: Washington
- Land-Based Whale-Watching Destinations: Oregon
- Land-Based Whale-Watching Destinations: Northern California
- Land-Based Whale-Watching Destinations: Southern California
- What Are the Whales Doing? A Visual Glossary
- About the Author

Customer Reviews

Biography

Stan Minasian is an author, lecturer, Emmy Award-winning documentary film producer, and environmental educator. He has written, edited, and produced 16 documentaries on marine mammal and natural history issues that have been broadcast on Animal Planet, the Discovery Channel, Outdoor Life Network, National Geographic TV, Turner Broadcasting Systems, PBS, and internationally.

He is a marine mammal authority, a former member of the US Coast Guard Special Forces, a certified diver, and a surface and underwater cinematographer. Stan is the senior author of The World's Whales: A Complete Illustrated Guide, published by Smithsonian Books.

From his home in the San Francisco Bay Area, Stan has led over 200 whale-watching trips from coastal waters to the Farallon Islands and the Cordell Banks.