Kate Cummings

KATE CUMMINGS is co-owner, captain and naturalist for Blue Ocean Whale Watch. She is also an excellent photographer, but when asked about her photography, Kate humbly replied, “I like taking pictures.”

Kate was born in Santa Cruz, CA and grew up largely in the Bay Area. She later returned to Santa Cruz to attend the University of California at Santa Cruz (UCSC) where she studied sociology.

Her interest in whales started at the age of 10 when the movie Free Willy came out. Initially her interest focused on killer whales, but soon expanded to all whales. She said she even dreams about whales. Kate saw her first whale in Monterey Bay when she was 18 on a whale watch trip with her mom.

While studying at UCSC, Kate met someone who worked as a deckhand and quickly decided that she had to do the same. Her first marine job was working out of Moss Landing as a deckhand on a whale watch boat, but she graduated to naturalist after a year, as she says, ‘because of being a big nerd.’