Thursday, July 18, 2019
We had an incredible day full of wildlife! We encountered hundreds of Common dolphins, a Blue whale, a Humpback whale and a Minke whale today! During the afternoon, we journeyed out to deeper water and found a long stretch of ~200 Common dolphins that were traveling up the coast. They were very playful as they cruised beside us. Many cow/calf pairs were sighted all around us. We pointed our nose south and found a Minke whale that was very surface active as it popped up all around the boat. We continued on and found a Blue whale! It had very long surface times, as it logged at the surface. We got looks at one more breathing cycle before going home. While out and about, we encountered a Mola mola that was seen resting at the surface.
During the afternoon cruise, we found more Common dolphins that totalled another ~200 out in deeper water. These Commons were seen feeding underneath diving birds. A juvenile Humpback whale was sighted in the feeding frenzy. It was the same juvenile that we have been lucky enough to find over the last few weeks. It actually mugged us! It crossed our bow and followed the dolphins. We were lucky enough to see the Humpback whale tail-lob a few times! We observed California sea lions hanging out with the dolphins and Humpback. A Mola mola was also sighted in the afternoon!
Blue and sunny skies were out which made for an amazing experience!
-Vanessa