The pacific is TEAMING with life – our waters are a bit warmer than they usually are this time of year – averaging about 69°. We’ve had an abundance of bait in our waters which appears to be attracting ALL of the dolphins to our waters.
Usually we’d be seeing more krill in our colder waters but these warmer waters aren’t bringing the krill.
This afternoon, we had a pod of about 75 bottlenose dolphins. The were going on some dives to hunt for food – no of the remnants made their way up to the surface so we’re not positive what they were eating but they made their way back to our vessel every time they surface – ridding there wake at the bow and turning sideways to observe us as well. Before the trip was over, we found a pod of long beaked common dolphins as well – they were feeding on baitfish and surfing enthusiastically.
The sunset was eternal, we had low lying stratus clouds with gorgeous sun rays peering through for the vast majority of the trip. We were lucky to find a MEGA POD of long beaked common dolphins dolphins – totaling nearly TWO THOUSAND over many miles of ocean. We observed every behavior they display, from breaches to hunting to surfing and even stanmpeding. With the gorgeous sunset lighting, we watched in awe as the silver lined shilouetts errupted out of the water with the striking sunset backdrop.
Naturalist, Alison
