We had an adventurous trip on the Privateer! We were rockin’ and rollin’ with the increased swell! We set out of the Mission bay jetties and found a small pod of ~5 Long-beaked Common dolphins that were likely feeding on some small schooling fish. We continued out to the drop-off and went north. We noticed a lot of bird activity, including birds diving into the water, so we decided to investigate. We lucked out and found a huge pod of ~300 Short-beaked Common dolphins! They were loving the big waves today, as they porpoised, surfed, breached and somersaulted out of the water! It was amazing to see so many all around the boat, completely surrounding us! We enjoyed lots of little calves all around too! We continued our journey to the north in search for more. We found ourselves just outside of La Jolla. We turned to the south and found the same energetic pod of Short-beaked Common dolphins. We watched them bow-ride and surf in our wake. On our way in, another pod of ~20 Long-beaked Common dolphin raced to our boat! We didn’t catch up with any baleen whales, but we will try again all day tomorrow, as we have two trips!
Trash/Recyclables: ZERO!
Naturalist,Vanessa
October 18, 2019
