Gray whale galore! On today’s morning trip we started off with an amazing pod of ~300 long-beaked common dolphins. They were surfing in our wake, riding the bow and having a whale of a time! We got a call on the radio from our whale watching friends about a gray whale spout located about ~2 miles offshore. The gray whale was definitely acting a bit elusive but we finally caught up with the southbound gray whale located off sunset cliffs and even saw its tail lift out of the water twice!! We also saw a few really beautiful heart-shaped spouts to start the day off right! We have an another trip coming up so please stay tuned!
On the Afternoon trip we got lucky again catching up with not one but 2 south bound gray whales! One was exhibiting a behaviour called “snorkeling”, taking a single shallow breath before a short dive.
Coming north again close to Pt Loma we caught up with an energetic pod of ~600 long beaked common dolphins! Like a lot of the rest of San Diego, they spent their Sunday afternoon surfing and hanging out in the waves.
Our Sunset whale watch was no less exciting. Following our success to the South West earlier in the day we stayed the course and were surprised by a solo gray whale spout located right in front of the boat! This majestic whale was putting on a show lifting its tail flukes for every single dive. Some long beaked common dolphins got curious about the gray whale and raced over to where it was diving. The pod of long beaked common dolphins kept expanding over the vast ocean and we estimated we were encompassed by a very spread out megapod of ~1000 dolphins!
All and all a fantastic to spend a Sunday on a long weekend!
Tomorrow on MLK Day we have a 9am, 12pm and 3pm. We’d love to have you out on the ocean with us!
Naturalists,
Melissa & Ruth
