Long-beaked Common dolphins stole our hearts today!
On our morning trip, we had fog a few miles from shore, so we stayed close to the coast. We had amazing views of the coast as well as plenty of birds to watch! We pushed out to the west once we were outside of Bird rock and passed the drop-off. We spotted some birds to the SW of us and accompanying them were Long-beaked Common dolphins! Our preliminary estimate was about ~300 individuals. They were in smaller subgroups socializing, and stopping to feed! Our cruise home was super smooth and visibility opened up for us!
On our afternoon trip, we punched it to the west and scanned all around from the gray whale highway to the drop-off. It was a little quiet in the marine mammal department until we got to about 9-miles from shore! We spotted diving birds and a huge pod of ~500 Long-beaked Common dolphins! They were in a very tight group, slowly cruising and not going in any specific direction. We had amazing views as they surrounded our boat! They were also very vocal! We could hear squeaks, squeals and buzzes! The calves were fun to search for! They popped up 1 in every 30 dolphins. The reason we love them so much is they are boat-friendly and today was no different! We scanned for more on our way home!
We lucked out with beautiful conditions, clear skies , a STUNNING sunset and a massive pod of feeding long beaked common dolphins! We decided getting out west was best – out to the drop off to search fror any kind of wild life we could find. We saw a feeding frenzy LIGHTING UP the horizon – birds glittering above the horizon and dolphins sneak attacking fish with rapid tail swats. When we got there, we were surrounded with hundreds of dolphins in every direction and an abundance of birds too. The sunset was stunning, luckily we escaped the fog bank and had a SERIOUS burner to enjoy for the entire cruise home.
Naturalist,
Vanessa & Alison
