We had a great time on the water! We had nice sea conditions and beautiful visibility! We cruised out to the west and once we got to the drop-off we headed up the coast! We spotted a nice feeding frenzy with terns, pelicans and gulls diving into the water! There were a few bait balls that were visible at the surface near our boat. We found one feeding frenzy with ~50 Long-beaked Common dolphins! They raced about chasing the small schooling fish. We got amazing looks as the Commons cruised up to us to ride the bow and surf the wake! We saw a couple California sea lions also feasting! We enjoyed the sights and the nice ride home. We have one more trip to go and will update you soon! —Naturalist Vanessa
We had a really fun group that enjoyed the splash-splash of the Pacific Ocean as we had a little wind chop and some swells with short intervals. We went west to the drop-off and suddenly heard a yell of “there she blows!” we had a Fin Whale, the second largest and fastest of all the whales (the blue whale being longer, up to 90’ in Northern Hemisphere). The Fin whale gets up to 79 feet. Our whale was very unpredictable in it’s movements. It would surface for two or three breathes then disappear for three minutes and then reappear somewhere else around our vessel, but it did pass by for some really good close looks . Lucky for us. There were hundreds of birds and then we noticed the splashes from a huge pod of Short-beaked common dolphins. We counted & estimated over 1400 of them. They were obviously foraging, but they seemed to be having some type of competition for which dolphin could leap the highest out of the water & making the biggest splash. On our return back to the dock we saw one of the most amazing sunsets of the summer with a clear horizon and some nice clouds. Definitely a great golden hour. There is so much to see on one of our whale watches. The summertime is a great time to come witness the splendid activity. We hope to see you all soon. -Naturalist Greg
