Even though we had a Humpback and Minke whale sighted, the Common dolphins stole the show today!
On our morning journey out to the Pacific we encountered some patches of light rain mixed with blue skies! We got out to deeper water and noticed some bird activity to the NW. We searched the area and spotted a scattered pod of ~100 Mostly short-beaked Common dolphins! There was about 20 Long-beaked Common dolphins spotted in the mix! We turned to the north and then hooked back to the west and spotted a Humpback whale! We could see its wispy spout from afar! We caught up with it and watched its fluke prints guide us to where it would surface next! We saw it come toward us and then cruise along the side of our boat while subsurface. We didn’t get another look as we had to head back to the dock.
On our afternoon trip, we set out to the west and spotted thousands of birds diving and sitting on the water about a mile from the drop-off. We searched the zone and Capt John spotted a Minke whale a couple times! We waited to catch up with it again but it was never seen again. While waiting, we spotted a huge pod of ~300 short-beaked Common dolphins cruise up to us! It was an amazing pod full of teeny tiny babies! We watched as they attempted to breach and porpoise beside us! Many calves still had fetal folds indicating they were new to the world! We pushed up to the north and encountered plenty more birds diving in feeding frenzies but no marine mammals. We enjoyed the smooth ride home!
Saving the best for last today! We had an INCREDIBLE trip with two incredibly friendly humpback whales and about 200 short beaked common dolphins! We headed straight south thanks to a tip off from some fellow whale watchers but – no amount of preparedness can prepare you for TWO MUGGY HUMPBACKS! 45 mins of being circled by two humpbacks while playful, hungry dolphins passed by our vessel. Whales hold their breath for 3-7 mins usually while traveling so, we try our best to pace their speed and direction out – but these whales were diving right under our boat and popping up on the other side seconds later! It was absolutely thrilling! The sky was being just about as dramatic as the whales were … eventually we had to head in to shore and say goodbye to our favorite giant blubber babies. We’ll all be riding the high from this trip for a WHILE!
Naturalist,
Vanessa & Alison
