Happy International Whale Day! We certainly had no shortage of whales today. Our morning trip got to see a megapod of long beaked common dolphins out at the drop off. Pushing out to the west, we caught up with a cow calf pair of humpback whales. We got to stick around for a few cycles before making our way back to Mission Bay. Our afternoon trip was welcomed to the Pacific by about 15 inshore bottlenose dolphins. They came right up to us and gave the bow a nice show! We pushed to the south west and caught up with 2 north bound gray whales! We got several good looks at them and they loved showing off their tail flukes. We pushed further west and found the same cow calf pair from the morning trip! The baby was gaining playful energy as the day went on, spending lots of time at the surface. We were welcomed back to Mission Bay by more inshore bottlenose all the way into the marina. Our sunset trip was the one to beat, definitely one for the books! We had inshore bottlenose inside the jetties to guide us out to the Pacific. We pushed to the west and came across about 200 common dolphins. They were pretty spread out and we saw both long beaks and short beaks in the area! We pushed towards the west and found the same cow calf pair. We saw them interact with the dolphins and head towards a bait ball. Mom showed off her incredible lunge feeding skills and we got some truly incredible looks!! The baby was feeling more playful as it was barrel rolling up at the surface. Truly an amazing trip that our crew will remember for a while!
Naturalist,
Brooke
