Super Cetacean Saturday! We observed whales and dolphins on all three trips today. During the morning trip, we encountered 2 northbound Gray whales and ~300 Long-beaked Common dolphins. On the afternoon trip, out near the drop-off, we sighted a big pod of ~250 Long-beaked Common dolphins feeding under diving birds. Only a half a mile away, a single Minke whale was sighted. We haven’t seen Minke’s in a while so it was a real treat! During our sunset trip, we went the distance! Out near the drop-off we sighted Short-beaked Common dolphins everwhere! They were scattered all the way out to 14-miles from shore! Out there, we sighted 3 big spouts! They belonged to a trio of Northbound Gray whales. After visiting the lagoons in Mexico, Gray whales are ready to get back to the arctic, so on their northbound journey they tend to be found far from shore. We also were lucky and sighted a juvenile Northern Elephant Seal on our way back toward the coast. We encountered ~10 Inshore bottlenose dolphins in the jetties on the way in.
Naturalist,
Vanessa
