You just never know what you’re gonna sea out there on the ocean! We had a beautiful day with calm seas and patchy fog. We started the day out with a couple of Inshore bottlenose dolphins riding the bow in the Mission Bay channel. We hugged the coast to the north looking for Gray whales. We got to the La Jolla Canyon and went west. We spotted some birds diving, so we cruised over to investigate for more wildlife. Under the birds were ~200 Long-Beaked Common dolphins! Some were feeding, but overall, they were traveling to the NW. We spotted some calves leaping out of the water, next to mom. It was a nice smooth ride in, and the fog began to clear up.
We had a Whale of a Trip on our afternoon tour! We set out to the west and hung out with a single juvenile humpback! It was slowly traveling to the north. We got into a nice groove watching it come up for 3-5 breaths and dives that were just a few minutes long. Then, out of nowhere, it launched out of the water next to our boat only 40ft off the starboard back corner! We were elated to see it breach at least 10 more times! We were lucky to see it chin slap and pectoral slap, too! We reviewed the photos and could see its belly and determined it was a male! Also, from the photos, we compared the flukes with a juvenile humpback we sighted on Tues, Dec 17, and it was a MATCH! This little Humpback has been hanging out in San Diego for the holiday season! On the way back to shore we encountered a grey whale on its migration south for a brief glimpse. Just a mile from shore in 60 ft of water, we found not one but FOUR grey whales! They were swimming in circles so we got to hang out for a LONG time – we witnessed some frisky behavior as the whales rolled around with each other. This is the largest group we’ve seen so far this season. We’ll be off the water for a while due to the large swells but, looking forward to grey whales season in full swing when we return!
Naturalists,
Vanessa & Alison
