Two FIN Tuesday!
We had a fun day rolling around on the Pacific Ocean! It was a little rolly, but the dolphins seemed to enjoy them! We started the day out with a pod of ~9 Inshore Bottlenose dolphin! They were riding the waves in as we were headed out! We sighted a juvenile brown booby and at the same time that it flew away, a couple of flying fish jumped out of the water! We got out to 12-miles from shore a hung out with a pod of ~200 Short-beaked Common dolphins! They were breaching and porpoising all around us! There were a handful of calves seen in the mix! We were headed back toward the coast when a spout appeared before our eyes just outside of the drop-off! We caught up with TWO FIN WHALES! They were traveling slowly to the south and then to the west. They came up for 3-4 breaths and down for 7-8 mins!
We had a beautiful sunset trip with Risso’s dolphins sighted out to the west! We passed the drop-off and spotted them right in front us! We could see their tiny spouts in the low hanging sunlight! There was about 60 individuals that were slowly milling around in 1600-ft of water! We were excited to see some of the juveniles breaching and also lifting up their tails high in the sky, kind of like they were waving at us! We loved to see their unique markings and tall dorsal fins! Every once in awhile we could see their eye rise above the ocean surface as they peeked up at us! We had the best backdrop to observe these playful dolphins in! The clouds scattered the sunlight all around, illuminating the dolphin’s backs! The sunset and moonrise made for an amazing finale!
Naturalist,
Vanessa
