Friday, July 19, 2024
We hung out with 3 species of cetacean today!
This morning we set out to the west and caught up with a fun pod of ~30 Offshore Bottlenose dolphins! We could see their big splashes on the horizon as they launched out of the water! They surrounded our boat and we got to observed them surf in our wake and ride the bow! Not too far away, was a pair of Mom and baby Blue whales! They were 13-miles from shore! We were lucky to observe them traveling side by side! Mom even lifted her flukes as she went for a deep dive! On our way in we found a small pod of ~50 Long-beaked Common dolphins. There were very tiny calves in that pod too!
For our afternoon trip, we were excited to see a small pod of ~30 Long-beaked Common dolphins traveling north. We hung out with them as they surfaced all around the boat. We got amazing looks looks as they surfed in our wake! The seas were smooth and the clarity of the water was crisp making it easy to see every move they made underneath the surface! We cruised the drop-off to the north and then a passenger spotted big splashes to the west of us! Out in La Jolla, we caught up with a big pod of ~50 Offshore Bottlenose dolphins! They were super energetic as they popped up all around our boat. They breached, porpoised, tail-slapped and surfed beside us! There were at least 4-5 cow/calf pairs in the mix that grouped up together like they do in nursery pods.
It’s a good thing we LOVE dolphins down here in San Diego because we found EVEN MORE on our sunset trip. These long beaked common dolphins were cruising out to the west for the night and we found them not too far from the drop. With cotton candy skies to the east and golden rays to the west – it was breathtaking.
Naturalist,
Vanessa & Alison
