Twofer Tuesday is among us! We caught up with a BREACHING juvenile Humpback and ~500 Long-beaked Common dolphins!
We set out to the NW and spotted a huge spread of birds diving in all directions. We knew that it was going to be a great area to check out. We noticed some splashes and originally thought it was dolphin but was actually a raft of ~10 California sea lions! They popped up and checked us out! Then all of a sudden a Humpback popped up in the middle of the sea lions! It was a little juvenile with a lot of speckles across its back and under its tail! It may be the one we seen a month ago. (We will check and update in the comments!) It surfaced all around the boat with no rhyme or reason! Possibly checking us out! It began to fall into a nice groove and traveled slowly to the south. Then out of nowhere a massive pod of Long-beaked Common dolphins raced in our direction toward the NW! Before we realized it, we were surrounded! Then the Humpback breached!! Only a select few on the boat got to sea the amazing breach as it was so unexpected and we were enjoying the Commons! The humpback continued to the north while we hung out with the huge pod of Long-beaks. From a distance we sighted the whale breach for a second time! We were all on cloud 9 to see such an amazing sight!
This evening had a slow start but an incredible end! We searched ….and searched… and searched….
Then on our way back we located a gray whale crawling just outside the kelp line. This whale was cruising slowly south and showed its fluke on every single dive! It popped up RIGHT NEXT TO US on a few occasions. As we ran out of time, we turned to head home but found ourselfs amidst a pod of playful long beaked common dolphins, a wonderful last minute bonus!
Naturalist,
Vanessa & Alison
