It has been a FIN-omenal Friday! We enjoyed watching both species of Common dolphins, a Minke whale, and a Bryde’s whale! We hung out with ~350 Long-beaked Common dolphins and ~250 Short-beaked Common dolphins in the morning trip! Everywhere we went, there were Common dolphins! The Long-beaks were observed feeding under diving birds. The shorties were launching out of the water non-stop! We spotted several Mola mola’s throughout the trip! During the afternoon tour, we set out to the drop-off and found a huge pod of ~300 shorties breaching and porpoising! So many tiny calves were seen all around! They were mimicking mom as they breached and launched out of the water. Out at 11-miles from shore, we hung out with 2 Minke whales! One surprised us by mugging us! It popped up right next to our boat. Then on our way home, we sighted a single Bryde’s whale! It surfaced pretty close to our boat and we got great looks at its head, back and dorsal fin. We got photos of the 3 ridges on the top of its rostrum which is a diagnostic characteristic for Bryde’s whales!
We have one more trip to go….
Naturalist,
Vanessa
