Non-stop wildlife, calm seas, warm weather, gorgeous sunset and awesome passengers!
80~ long-beaked common dolphins showed up right away as we headed to the wild west water. They were less interested in us and were exhibiting pod hunting techniques darting around and corralling fish. But they were truly just the appetizer. Heading further west toward the drop off it was hard not to see splashes as there were dolphins EVERYWHERE in the distance! Seeing a megapod of long-beaked common dolphins (over 1000~!) is really something to take in. Simultaneously bow-riding and surfing our wake, racing along side in a chorus line and performing massive breaches. It was thrilling. What was equally as exciting, following behind the megapod of dolphins was a humpback whale! It kept us on our toes mixing its dive times up between short 2 min split dives and longer 7 min breath cycles, though this humpback liked to show its flukes on almost every dive.
By now the sunset was getting really good and another 500~ pod of long beaked common dolphins showed up porpoising through the golden reflection in the ocean.
Truly a magical evening spent on the Pacific.
-Naturalist Ruth
