We had a Whale of Day aboard the Privateer! We sighted whales all day! On our morning trip we sighted an amazing feeding frenzy just a couple miles from shore! There were hundreds of birds diving into the water! There were also ~300 Long-beaked Common dolphins scattered all around us. They cruised up to us to say hi! A humpback whale was also sighted feeding in the same area! It even lunge fed once! We were pleasantly surprised to see its chin with throat pleats expanded! While we waited for it to surface again, we observed it pop up near us and began to head straight for us! It went under our boat and we watched it continue to another feeding frenzy. We left the action behind and pushed out to the west. Out there we hung out a big pod of ~200 Short-beaked Common dolphins! There were some teeny tiny calves zipping about! On our afternoon trip, we set out to the west and once beyond the drop-off we spotted a spout to the west of us! It ended up being the same Humpback we sighted on the morning trip! It was found solo this time and was traveling slowly to the south. It came up for 3-4 breaths and down for 5-6 min dives, showing its tail every time. Captain Bryan sighted some spouts to the SE of us so we zoomed over to check it out! We thought we had maybe 2 or 3 Gray whales, but after we put the drone up, the Birds Eye view helped us realize there was SIX Northbound Gray whales! They were socializing at the surface and we got amazing looks as they would sometime synchronize their breaths! We got views at multiple flukes up! We haven’t seen such a large pod of Gray whales traveling together in a really long time so it was a special treat! We have one more trip to go! We will update you soon! Ever wonder why dolphins swim up & down? I’m not sure either but they do it on PORPOISE! 🙂 Today, we found three awesome pods of ~150 short-beaked common dolphins! Sea conditions and visibilty improved as the trip went on and we enjoyed a beautiful sunset! Every trip is different and we can’t wait for more ocean fun tomorrow!
Naturalist, Vanessa & Melissa
