We had an awesome trip this morning aboard the Inspiration. We sighted 1 fin whale, and about 250 long-beaked common dolphins!!! Leaving the jetties, we made our way straight out to the west. With beautiful visibility and sea conditions to match, we spotted lots and lots of bird activity up ahead of us, and eventually spotted a HUGE spout of the mighty fin whale.
With terns squawking all around us and pelicans swooping in to join the feeding frenzy, we went to hang out with some super rad long beaks while the fin was down on a dive. We got a few more good looks at the fin, and slowly made our way back towards shore. Overall, it was a gorgeous way to start the day out on the big blue!
We had an amazing afternoon trip with sightings of 2 Bryde’s whales and 200 Long-beaked Common dolphins! We cruised out to the drop-off and spotted a large aggregation of diving birds! Under them we sighted a huge spread of Long-beaked Common dolphin chasing bait and feeding! Once we got closer, we spotted a spout! It was a tricky whale to identify as it was only up for 2 breaths and down for 8-10min dives. After concentrating on the dolphins, one of the whales surfaced about 1/4 a mile west of us and then to our sweet surprise a second Bryde’s whale surfaced next to us! Captain Michael confirmed with his drone that it was a beautiful Bryde’s whale! We spent the rest of the trip watching the feeding frenzy! Anchovies were not the menu! It was an awesome trip and we can’t wait to see what we find on our third and final trip!
We had a gorgeous sunset trip with stunning views of wildlife paired with the best backdrop! We set out to the west and spotted birds beyond the drop-off. As we got closer, we noticed splashes and dolphins jumping out of the water! Then a tall beautiful spout appeared before our eyes! The wind died down, so the spout just hung in the sky for awhile allowing everyone to see it! It was a Bryde’s whale and was observed traveling to the north while the dolphins seemingly following it. We caught up with it briefly but it began to head west and then back to the north. It became very tricky to follow, so we left it be and caught up with the pod of ~300 Long-beaked Common dolphins. There were plenty of birds diving all around them. We were stoked to see them race over to us to say hi! We were completely surrounded as they jumped out of the water in front of the beautiful sunset! We noticed a lot of little calves leaping out of the water keeping up with mom. We enjoyed the amazing views as the sun peeked out from under the dark clouds! The sun went down and the sky lit up with hot pink, orange and purple clouds! It just kept getting better!
It’s exciting to see a couple of Bryde’s whales this early in the season, as they are normally sighted closer to fall, so come on out and try to catch up with these tropical baleen!
Naturalists,
Olivia & Vanessa
