Sunshine, glassy seas, and Cetaceans! We left the Mission Bay jetties and spotted huge aggregations of birds only a couple miles from shore! They were feeding alongside Long-beaked Common dolphins! The dolphins raced up to us and bow-rode the Privateer. We followed the bird activity to the north and once we were just outside Pacific Beach, we spotted a single Gray whale! We confirmed it through photos that it was the same Gray whale sighted yesterday. It was milling around in only 80-ft of water, in the kelp forest! It was rolling around in kelp getting a nice seaweed wrap service! The gray came over to check us out and passed us near our stern and continued to the north. We waved goodbye and continued to the south and caught up with a big pod of almost 100 Long-beaked Common dolphins. They bow-rode, and surfed in our wake. The wind died down and produced some amazing dolphin watching conditions…the water was so glassy and clear! The next few days are going to be flat and calm so join us for Gray whale season!
Naturalist,
Vanessa
