We had an action-packed trip with whales and dolphins sighted on both tours! We started our afternoon trip with a Gray whale in Mission Bay! It was just hanging out and not traveling very fast. We can’t confirm it is the same whale as sighted last week. We continued out and found a nursery pod of Short-beaked Common dolphins on the drop-off! Captain Bryan sighted a spout south of us and after about 8-min a Fin whale surfaced only a few hundred feet from the boat! A huge pod of Long-beaked Common dolphins followed us in! We sighted the same Gray whale in the bay again on our way back to the dock. During the sunset trip, we were pleasantly surprised to find the Gray whale still hanging out, but seemed to be making its way out to the Pacific, as we sighted it in the channel. We waited for it to surface and is surprised us by popping up right next to our boat just 10-feet from us! It went behind us and began to hug the jetties. We waved goodbye and continued to the West. We spotted a huge bird and dolphin feeding frenzy only a couple of miles from shore! We scored and hung out with a Megapod of Long-beaked Common dolphins! They began to form a train as they traveled to the north. We got our dolphins selfies and pushed out to the drop-off. There we sighted another small pod of ~20 Short-beaked Common dolphins that were being very playful. There were some cow/calf pairs in the mix. We got out to 8.5-miles from shore and enjoyed the sights and the smooth ride home. The sunset was the cherry on the top!
We can’t wait to get out there again! Come sea us soon!
Naturalists,
Ryan and Vanessa
