Our Boat — Ranger
“Ranger” is a 33-foot (10m) RIB, or Rigid-hull Inflatable Boat (rigid fiberglass hull, inflatable pontoons) with two EPA-certified low-emission four-stroke Mercury 250HP engines. The boat was designed for military use and is built to the highest standards of safety and reliability. Ranger is the only civilian owned PT1000 in the country.
Capacity: Six Passengers
Number of Boats: One
“Ranger” allows for a truly intimate experience of the ocean. She’s nimble for exploring near shore where bigger boats can’t go. She’s fast, so we get to the best areas quickly. Yet when we slow down to soak up the ambiance, the engines are so quiet you can whisper about how incredible it is being this low to the water and close to the wildlife.
Captain & Naturalist Kate Spencer
Captain Kate Spencer, owner, developed the Fast Raft tour experience and has managed operation since 2014. She started leading whale watching tours on Monterey Bay as a naturalist 2001. Her enthusiasm and unique perspective as both a trained biologist and accomplished wildlife artist will enrich your trip.
As a naturalist, Kate has guided small boat encounters with the friendly gray whales of Baja California, lectured on cruise ships on the Inside Passage, and driven Zodiacs on Antarctic tour expeditions.
Kate has participated in humpback whale field research with the Alaska Whale Foundation and is one of the early users whose photographic data was instrumental in building the Happywhale.com citizen science whale tracking site. She is on the advisory board of California Whale Rescue and a first responder for entangled whales.
Before moving to Monterey, Kate was a scientific illustrator at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. She holds a degree in organismal biology with a studio art minor from Smith College in Massachusetts.
