March 21, 2024
SMOOOOOOOOOTH sailing today! There’s not much better for us ocean goers than a calm glassy sea and warm sunny skies. We had both – AND WHALES AND DOLPHINS!
We found a shy juvenile gray whale straight away! We followed alongside this whale while it snorted quickly just beneath the surface leaving nothing but a trail of fluke prints as evidence it was there. We headed out west in search of more life and were able to locate a second north bound gray whale! As we drifted along side this gray we saw a massive disturbance in the water off on the horizon! The glassy texture had changed to a rough and dark sloppy mess for about a mile long stretch so we went to go investigate! ~400 Long beaked common dolphins were charging east towards us! We got to spend some time with them in the beautiful glassy conditions before heading back to the dock!
Our sunset trip had us on the edge of our seats the entire time! We quickly encountered a very small pod of Pacific white sided dolphins and one California sea lion. Then, we encountered another California sea lion. However, this hungry fellow had a delicious meal in his mouth! He was thrashing around and chomping down on an Angel shark! Angel sharks typically hang out on the bottom of the sea floor hiding in the sand and then ambushing their prey. Seems like this time the Angel shark became prey of a large male California sea lion! Once we reached the drop-off we encountered a massive Fin whale! We hung out with this Fin whale for multiple breath cycles. This Fin whale was swimming in an unpredictable manner and was going on very short 2-3 min dives. This Fin whale could have potentially been feeding on some surface krill or another type of prey that was higher in the water column. We also saw multiple spouts off in the distance. Always a great time on the water! Please join us soon.
Naturalist,
Alison, Danielle & Melissa