Common dolphins showed up big time for us today! We had two awesome trips with both Short- and Long-beaked Common dolphins showing off their acrobatics and playful nature!

To start our morning trip, we spotted a small pod of ~30 Long-beaked Common dolphins feeding under diving terns only about 1-mile from shore. The seas were glassy and clear making it easy for us to watch them swim up to our boat! We continued out to the drop-off and spotted a Mola mola sunning itself at the surface. We got great looks as it hung out long enough to see it on both sides of the vessel. Then out almost 10-miles from shore we spotted a huge pod of ~300 Short-beaked Common dolphins! They were really fun to watch as they socialized in a dense aggregation. There were plenty of show-offs breaching sky-high! Lots of tiny calves sighted in the mix as well!

On the afternoon trip, we cruised out to the west and spotted some splashes about 9-miles from Mission bay and were excited to see another big pod of ~400 Short-beaked Common dolphins! They were very energetic exhibiting big jumps and tail-slaps! We came across a nice nursery pod of ~20 cow/calf pairs. We had a show-stopping calf that launched out of the water mimicking mom! It leaped out of the water flapping its tail almost like it was trying to get more air and fly away! lol We waved goodbye to them and turned to the SE toward Point Loma and on the drop-off we encountered an awesome pod of Long-beaked Common dolphins! There were terns, California brown pelicans, shearwaters, and Cormorants all around them feeding on bait fish! We observed several diving down picking up anchovies and carrying them off. We spotted pod after pod of Long-beaks in small feeding frenzies on our journey back up the coast within 3-miles from shore.

It was a great day on the water! We hope sea ya on the next one!

Naturalist,
Vanessa