It was a great day to be on the water! We had nice sea conditions and good visibility which helped us find wildlife of all shapes and sizes! During the morning tour we set out toward the west and along the way we found 1 Blue whale that was likely feeding at the 9-mile bank. We sighted a second spout that we didn’t get to investigate. We turned in and hung out with ~40 Offshore bottlenose dolphin. During the afternoon trip, we zoomed out to the same zone. We saw big splashes on the horizon! We ended up catching up with likely the same pod of Offshore bottlenose dolphins. There were 4 cow/calf pairs in the mix. We also got to observe 2 mighty Blue whales and 1 Fin whale! They were circling around which usually means that they are feeding. One Blue popped up behind us as we left giving us a nice wave “Goodbye”! Mola mola’s and Velella velella’s were seen all around. We even got a quick view of a flying fish on the PM trip. The sunset trip was amazing! We zoomed out beyond the drop-off and spotted a HUGE spout illuminated by the sunset! We began to head toward it when a small pod of ~20 Short-beaked Common dolphins surfaced beside us. Then the entire way over to the whale we encountered a scattered pod of Long-beaked Common dolphins. They were very playful with the boat. We saw lots of birds out and small feeding frenzies forming all around. We finally got into the whale zone, and waited for the largest animal on the planet to surface! We got to observe it surface for a few breaths. There was another whale sighted near by, but didn’t get to catch up with it. We followed more Common dolphins to the southwest. A few cow/calf pairs were seen. We got a couple more looks a the Blue whale spout on our way back home. The sunset was beautiful.
Naturalist,
Vanessa
