We sighted a HUMPBACK WHALE & COMMON DOLPHIN!
On our morning tour, we spent time with at least 4 different pods of Common dolphins! Our first pod was big pod of ~200 Short-beaked Common dolphin. They were slowly traveling to the NW. Once we caught up with them, they began ride the bow! We got amazing looks as they breached and porpoised around the boat. We noticed at least 10 cow/calf pairs! There were some teeny-tiny calves with fetal folds visible! We got really lucky and witnessed a STAMPEDE! The shorties raced off in a big C-formation, spreading out in every direction! We continued to follow the drop-off and found a few more pods but they were Long-beaked Common dolphin! They were so graceful swimming beside us! They were very boat friendly.
We caught up with a southbound Humpback whale on our afternoon trip! It’s been awhile since we’ve seen one, so we were super excited! We observed it just inside of the drop-off traveling at about 4-5mph. We got great looks at its beautiful tail flukes every time it went down for a dive! We timed it having 6-min dive times and popped up on both sides of the boat! We waved goodbye and continued to the north and on our way in, about a mile from the coast, we found a pod of ~40 Long-beaked Common dolphins! They were traveling kind quick to the south. After catching up with them they hitched a ride in our wake and at the bow!
We have one more trip to go, stay tuned for updates!
Our sunset trip was porpoisefully spectacular! We travelled north along the drop-off and found a small pod of ~25 long-beaked common dolphins! They were surfing in our wake and riding the bow. We also saw many calves in the mix as whale! We also saw tonnessss of seabirds, some elegant terns, western gulls and shearwaters. Always a fun time on the water, please sea us again soon!
Naturalist,
Vanessa & Melissa
