What a whirlwind trip! We got word from two other boats that had searched over 50 miles of ocean that there was very little to be found out there – WRONG! We headed out with our eyes keen on the horizon and found a feeding frenzy just off the drop. We cruised with nearly 300 dolphins while they surged up the coastline. We continued along the drop much further than we usually go but we saw a wash of white water erupting from the depths and curiosity got the best of us! A massive pod of long beaked commons lead us to a juvenile humpback almost all the way in Solana Beach! This small whale hung out and flicked its tail high in the air for us, we got good looks on both side before we had to head back to the docks. We were a bit short on time so we mowed the kelp line through La Jolla to get home. We’ve got one trip to go! We’ll keep you posted.
What a beautiful sunset trip! We cruised out to the NW and once we got to the drop-off we spotted hundreds of feeding birds! Underneath them were fast-moving Long-Beaked Common dolphins! They corraled small schooling fish into two huge feeding frenzies! We were lucky to see some curious dolphins race over to us to surf in our wake or bow ride! Only through the photos did we notice one interestingly looking Common that surfed in our wake with a light pigmentation! It must have had some form of leucisism (check the photos)! We left the big pod of ~400 Commons behind us as they traveled south. We went north and Capt. John spotted a spout to the west! We caught up with a traveling Fin whale! It was headed mostly NW. There were hundreds of velella velellas spotted all around us. With their sails lit up in the sunlight it looked as if there were hundreds of stars in the dark blue waters surrounding the Fin whale! So amazing! Our ride home with the sun setting behind us was stunning! Hope to sea ya on the next one!
Naturalists,
Alison & Vanessa
