We had an action packed day with big swells, big whales, and big fish! After rolling through the big waves in the jetties, we set out to the west. A pod of ~50 Long-beaked Common dolphins rushed toward the Privateer! We observed them riding the bow and surfing our wake! The continued to the south and we pushed out to the west toward the drop-off. We sighted a huge, tall, columnar spout right in front of us! We hung out with the second largest whale in the world, the Fin whale! It was traveling to the south and then turned toward the coast! We observed some interesting behavior! It seemed to almost be traveling fast and surfing the waves in! We could see its spout and then a big lunge at the surface, and occurred pretty much every time there was a big swell rolling by. On two of the breath cycles, we witnessed it expel bright, rusty orange whale POOP! We got some awesome looks today despite the big waves! Guests were having a fun time! There were thousands of Velella velella’s all around us in deep water. We spotted a Mola mola feeding on them too!
Hope to sea you on the next one!
Naturalist,
Vanessa
