Did you know only 1% of the world’s population will ever see a blue whale?
And we had a full boat of lucky passengers joining that 1% club today!
Captain Brian and the salty crew of the Privateer journeyed a short 6.5 miles south west of Mission Bay to hang out with a beautiful dapple grey blue whale. This is fairly close to shore for blue whales to be found which meant we got to spend more time with this stunning creature. It was exhibiting “travel-mode” behaviour as it slowly made its way North along the drop off with consistent 3 spout breathing cycles and 13 minute dive times. Sunny blue skies that we were graced with today really helped emphasize the gorgeous “whale glow” as the blue whale came to surface. Always a treat to see.
We have a sunset trip today so stand by to find out if we catch up with this whale or any of its cetacean sisters.
-Naturalist Ruth
We had an amazing sunset trip out on the Pacific Ocean! We got a glimpse of some of the large California sea lion males lounging on the bait receiver as we made our way out of the basin. Several nautical miles past the jetties, Captain Bryan spotted a large pod of Offshore Bottlenose dolphins. Immediately they surrounded our vessel, turning on their sides to look up at us, showing us an inquisitive nature. We saw a mother and baby, known as a nursery pod, or a cow-calf pair. The dolphins stayed with us for a long time, porpoising and occasionally darting off to forage on schooling fish. Seabirds followed along, plunge diving or picking up the left-overs from the surface of the sea. We continued southwest, seeing interesting vessels, a U.S. Navy Arleigh Burke Class “Pinckney”, a US Coast Guard vessel and a huge tug boat. Right when we turned around to head back-12 miles offshore-we spotted a Minke Whale and got some great looks at this baleen whale that was intrepid in its nature, showing a prominent dorsal fin. We had a fabulous sunset as well. -Naturalist Greg
