Feeling Fin-tastic on the Privateer! Our morning trip was the one to beat! We had a great pod of about 200 long beaked common dolphins about 4 miles out. Lots and lots of babies! We headed west to about 8 miles and found a trio of Fin whales; a cow-calf pair and an escort! We thought just being able to see the cow-calf pair was cool enough but then they mugged us! We got some really great looks at both mom and baby! On our way back in, we came across a really active pod of offshore bottlenose dolphins. One of them breached over and over again as we picked up speed. Our afternoon trip was welcomed by another pod of about 200 long beaked common dolphins about 3 miles out and small handful of offshore bottlenose dolphins about 5 miles out. We pushed up to the north and found another duo of Fin whales. One of them barrel rolled, lifted its tail and pooped next to us.
Our sunset trip was teaming with life! We headed west and found a feeding frenzy of long beaked and short beaked common dolphins! in the mis was a fin whale that appeared to be surface feeding on whatever it was the dolphins were after. If it was the same dinner menu as yesterday…. that means market squid! We got some good looks at the fin whale but it was being a bit squirrely so we let it dine in peace and went off to find more life. The dolphins seemed to be sprinkled out everywhere in the ocean, we found a few more small pods on the way back into the jetties.
Till tomorrow!
Naturalists,
Brooke& Alison
