Happy MINKE Monday morning! WOW- we spotted not one, not two, but THREE Minke whales on this mornings trip! Glassy conditions, minimal wind, and smooth seas made it a perfect morning to view these elusive baleen whales.
We started out the morning with a playful pod of over 300-400 Short-Beaked common dolphins! Behavioral displays such as jumps, tail slaps, and even loud squirreling that all guests could hear from the surface. We had multiple mom and calf pairs as well, which is always a crowd favorite! As we headed out to deeper waters, we came across multiple large patches of Shearwater birds resting, a sure sign that bait fish are underneath the surface. With some patience, we got lucky and spotted our first Minke whale of the day! From the boat, we could clearly see THOUSANDS of anchovies schooling around! The Minke whale even took a pass by the bow of the boat, showing its white underside of its belly- such a treat! Over the course of an hour, we found at least three Minke whales enjoying the plethora of food. We are calling this our Minke Monday Morning!
PM trip was a GREAT one! We heard word that there may be a large baleen whale 7 miles south of the jetty, so we quickly took off down in that direction. As we approached the area it was last sighted, we encountered a pod of at least 30 offshore Bottlenose dolphins! Growing 13 ft in length, these dolphin always seem to take our breathe away! We enjoyed watching them bow ride the boat and show off their strength by leaping in the waves. In the distance, the first spout was spotted from a single Blue whale! This Blue seemed to be navigating north, coming up for breathes every 4-6 minutes. With the sun out, we could easily see that beautiful blue glow from the whales back underwater. After searching the last 4 trips, we were glad to see a Blue whale again close to shore! On the way home, we encountered a pod of 50 or so Long-beaked common dolphins! Another awesome trip for our afternoon passengers.
We went the DISTANCE on our Sunset tour! We cruised up to the north and found a Blue whale off Del Mar!! We traveled 14.5-miles from Mission Bay! We had the best views of the coastline on the way up with excellent calm, glassy sea conditions. We sighted around 8 different pods of Common dolphins once we were outside of La Jolla. We probably had a couple hundred in all. We passed them all by and zoomed over to the Blue whale! We got great looks as it surface pretty close to us on its first breath at the surface. On our way back, we hung out with a super energetic pod of ~100 Short-beaked Common dolphins! They were zipping around the boat including launching out of the water, breaching and porpoising! They stampeded to the coast and we waved goodbye! We got beautiful night-time views of the San Diego city lights, including a fireworks show coming from downtown!
Naturalist,
Brooke & Vanessa
