It was a beautiful day with calm seas and incredible visibility! We could easily see down into Mexico and as far north as Carlsbad!
On our morning trip, we set out to the west and just past the drop-off we spotted ~40 Offshore bottlenose dolphins cruising north. The seas were glassy so we got amazing looks as they swam from the depths and back up to the surface! We spotted an individual that lacked a dorsal fin and one that had some distinctive patches on the tail stock. We caught up with a pod of ~200 Short-beaked Common dolphins launching out of the water non-stop! It was cool to see the huge size difference. After that we cruised to the north and spotted ~150 Long-beaked Common dolphins traveling to the south. It was fun to hang out with 3 species of toothed whale!
On our afternoon trip, we set out to the drop-off. While the wind picked up a bit, it was still so beautiful with bright sunny skies! We pushed out to the SW and found a brown booby sitting on the water. We reached the 9-mile bank and spotted a huge pod of ~200 Short-beaked Common dolphin that almost seemed to flying above the horizon line! We can usually expect amazing acrobatics from the shorties, but these guys were like the Globe Trotters of the Common dolphin species! One dolphin in particular kept zooming around and then would shoot out of the water with its tail flapping behind like it was trying to get a boost. After looking at photos, we noticed there was a remora on its right side of its body! We assume that it was so active trying to knock off the fishy nuisance!
Sunset was a long search! We ultimately enjoyed a gorgeous sunset that came to a slow close as we cruised with a pod of about 30 long beaked common dolphins.
Naturalist,
Vanessa & Alison
