It was a foggy day out on the Pacific but that didn’t stop us from finding wildlife! We started our day with very foggy conditions allowing for only about 200 yards of visibility. We kept our hopes high as cruised out to the west. We got to the drop-off and spotted a small pod of ~20 Short-beaked Common dolphins. We watched them continuously go down for dives, likely feeding down deep. We noticed our visibility opening up and we spotted more splashes to the west of us. We encountered another huge pod of ~200 Short-beaked Common dolphins. We got amazing looks as we had gorgeous glassy waters! We could see them swim up to us and then leap out of the water! We had plenty of cow/calf pairs sighted al around us. We loved to watch them breach and porpoise around the boat! We continued on and spotted another pod of Commons! This time was a big pod of ~300 Long-beaked Common dolphins! Along the way, we sighted a very large Mola mola, gulping at the Velella velella’s! We observed a few California sea lions along the way as well!
On our afternoon trip, we spotted a pod of ~150 Long-beaked Common dolphins bookin’ it fast to the south! We caught up with them and watched them porpoise and ride the bow! Plenty of calves sighted as well! We pushed out toward the SW and spotted a tall spout! We hung out with a Fin whale that seemed to be slowly traveling to the south. It stayed at the surface for a long time coming up for several breaths! On its last sounding dive, it came up for a big arch so much that we almost thought it was going to lift its flukes! Fin whales don’t normally raise their flukes, as it’s not in their diving nature. We waited a long time for it surface but it had given us the slip! We continued out to the west and a spotted another big pod of ~200 Short-beaked Common dolphins racing to the SW. We continued home with smooth sea al the way!
We hope you’ll join us this weekend! We have plenty of open spots available! The Fin whales are still roaming in the area feeding. Now is a great time to hop on our boat!
Naturalist,
Vanessa
