We had an amazing afternoon trip spent with Offshore Bottlenose and Short-beaked Common dolphins! We pushed out to the west and crossed the drop-off. We spotted some big splashes to the south of us! They were launching out of the water non-stop! We were so lucky to encounter such a huge pod with ~150 individuals all around us! An average pod size is around 40-60 individuals. There were so many cow/calf pairs all around us! The babies were being super cheeky and curious with the Privateer. We spotted splashes to the SE and on the drop-off. We caught up with a big pod of ~300 Short-beaked Common dolphin! They breached, tail-slapped, and porpoised out of the water all around us. We got great looks at tiny calves following their moms around. We even witnessed TWO stampedes! They raced off showing their high-energy output!
We had a gorgeous evening cruising the beautiful Pacific! We set out to the west and sighted a small pod of ~15 Long-beaked Common dolphin headed south only a mile from shore. We continued out to try and find a bigger pod. After reaching the drop-off, we spotted some splashes spread out to the south. We found a big pod of ~100 Offshore bottlenose dolphins! They were porpoising and breaching all around us! We were lucky to see a couple dolphins breach simultaneously in front of our boat! The sunset was pure magic!
Naturalist,
Vanessa
