We encountered FOUR species of toothed whales and one species of baleen whale today! During our morning tour we sighted an awesome feeding frenzy with birds diving in the water! We observed about ~800 Long-beaked Common dolphins feeding all around us! We observed another ~500 more Common dolphins coming in toward all the activity! On our way back in we sighted a small pod of ~10 Pacific white-sided dolphins!
During our second trip we caught up with a mixed pod of about 7 Long-beaked Common dolphins and 7 Pacific white-sided dolphins! There was even a juvenile California sea lion following them. They raced up to our bow! We continued up the coast enjoying the incredible views of the snow-capped mountains! We sighted some big splashes to the NW and hung out with ~300 short-beaked Common dolphins slowly traveling to the west. There were so many teeny-tiny babies in the mix! There were several with fetal folds!
The sunset trip was gorgeous! We had nice glassy waters, with amazing visibility! We cruised out to the west and sighted a spout about 3-miles from shore! We waited around and saw another tiny spout, and then it disappeared! We waited a good 10-min, hoping it was going to resurface but it went into stealth mode and gave us the slip. We carried on out to the west, got to the drop-off and followed the contour north. We hugged the coast back down toward the Mission Bay jetties when Captain John spotted a little feeding frenzy with birds, Pacific white-sided dolphins and California sea lions! They were zooming around feeding on small schooling fish! The Pacific white-sided dolphins kept us on our toes as they popped up all around our boat! The glassy water allowed us some amazing looks as we could see every move they made when they were just subsurface! The sunset was absolutely stunning! The clouds paired with the gray/purples evolved as the sky turned pink and a fiery red!
Sea you on the next one!
Naturalists,
Ryan & Vanessa
