Sunday, September 22, 2024
We made so many new dolphriends today! On our morning trip, we encountered 2 pods of short-beaked common dolphins!The first pod we encountered was located near the drop-off, we sighted about ~200 individual shorties. Then, we encountered a small pod of ~15 long-beaked common dolphins. We continued on to the northwest and sighted another pod of ~150 short-beaked common dolphins! We love seeing shorties because they love to show off their acrobatics and are very active on the surface of the water! We scanned very diligently on our afternoon trip. It was a bit quiet for the first half of the trip. We travelled north along the drop-off and even went into the La Jolla Canyon. We FINally spotted some dorsal fins slicing through the water! We encountered a stunning pod of ~200 long-beaked common dolphins! They were swimming fast along the Privateer! We also saw some adorable calves in the pod!
We closed out the weekend with a really fun surprise, a pod of Risso dolphins!
Their large dorsal fins were slicing through the swell, while their uniquely marked bodies glowed iridescent blue under the water. The pod of ~30 Risso’s were spread out chin slapping and leaping as the sunset. A real treat to see, the perfect way to start the first day of Autumn. Stay tuned to see what this coming week has in store for the Privateer.
Naturalists,
Melissa & Ruth
