A bit of a swell greeted us as we exited the Mission Bay Channel. Captain Brian pointed out some Nearshore Bottlenose dolphins surfing the swell and foraging for wayward fish between the artificial reefs of the rip rap rocks. Mission Bay was constructed in the late 40’s 50’s and into the 60’s and has over 2,600 acres of waterways and 2000 acres of islands, mainly Vacation and Fiesta Islands.
Several miles offshore, we found what fisherman refer to as a baitball, where schooling or forage fish such as the anchovies and sardines, both planktivores, come to the surface and are in turn eaten by seabirds and dolphins. We saw hundreds of Elegant Terns and Brown Pelicans along with Heermans Gulls and Black-vented Sherarwaters. It was absolute mayhem for feeding by our feathered and flippered friends. It was nice that the dolphins took time out of their feeding to participate in the “human watching tour”, turning to their sides as they came up to our boats to lake a look at us cheering them on. Further offshore at nine miles and 1,400’ depth of ocean we came across a 2nd pod of Long-beaked common dolphins, about 140, chasing fish along with the terns, the latter with raspy calls. Now and then, we can hear the “signature whistles” of the dolphins along with their exhalations through the blowhole. Some of our guests on the bow spotted a Minke Whale and we got a few looks and heard one loud exhalation and saw the “fluke prints” or smooth patches of water left behind from the upstroke of the powerful tail flukes.
On our afternoon trip, Captain Michael brought us south past Point Loma where we have had recent Humpback Whale sightings. We encountered a small pod of Common Dolphins that took a break from foraging to come say “hello” to our passengers several times before returning to foraging. We had hundreds of Elegant terns plunge diving right beside the dolphins, feeding on the small anchovies. Nearby, we saw a small three foot long blue shark in the surface waters that the dolphins briefly harassed. We continued south and west, seeing the Coronado Islands of northern Baja California, Mexico. On our way back, we found another pod of common dolphins chasing the forage fish in small baitballs just two miles outside of the Mission Bay Channel entrance. This afternoon, none of the numerous whale watching boats on the ocean found any of the baleen whales. We did enjoy the scenery and weather with the sunny skies in Americas’ Finest City, San Diego.
We had a gorgeous sunset trip out on the Pacific Ocean! We stopped by the bait receiver as usual, listening to all of the sea lions barking as we left the basin. We made our way straight out of the jetties to the W/NW, and found a group of about 75 long-beaked common dolphins chasing bait! Some of the group split off to come play with us, riding the bow and our wake. We spotted the tiniest little football (baby dolphin) swimming and bow riding next to mom. Absolutely precious! We continued to make our way to the north, and then eventually made our way back home to MB. We witnessed an absolutely gorgeous sunset, with sun rays spewing from the clouds. It was another beautiful day out there, and we hope to see you on a trip soon!
Naturalists, Greg & Olivia
