We had a Wacky Whale Wednesday aboard the Privateer! We cruised out toward the west and searched far and wide for wildlife. We got to the drop-off and finally started to see some bird activity. Most of the birds were in travel mode headed west. We followed the drop-off to the north and once we got off La Jolla, Captain Brian spotted a small puffy spout! We were so excited to hang out with a Humpback whale. It seemed to be heading out toward deeper water. We actually encountered this whale yesterday! Our awesome naturalist Ruth recognized it by its bright white underside of its tail-flukes! It was up for 3-4 breaths and down for only a few minutes! We got great looks on all sides of the boat! We were lucky enough to see it throw its tail! We waved goodbye and started to make our way in toward land. Only a mile or so from land, we spotted some birds diving and about ~30 Long-beaked Common dolphins actively feeding! Some of them raced toward us to hitch a ride on the bow and in our wake! We continued home and while in the Mission Bay channel, a few Coastal bottlenose dolphin popped up right in front of us!
Overall it was a fun day with wildlife that kept surprising us at every turn! Hope to see you on a trip soon!
Naturalist,
Vanessa
