Alison Moors
HOW ABOUT 700 DOLPHINS!? We were treated to a huge pod of common dolphins complete with breaches, tail slaps, tiny babies and tons of close passes. We started with about 500 dolphins in the super group, but were treated to the fusion side of their fission-fusion social structure when another 200+ came stampeding in from … Read more
Rocking and rolling on our Monday afternoon trip we made way to some extremely deep water, we were hanging out in a depth of 2500ft more than 10 miles from Mission Bay! Out there in the deep Pacific we encountered the beautiful blue glow and tall fins of my favourite dolphins, the Risso’s!! We had … Read more
We pushed north today just about as far as our range allows and spotted a HUGE spout blowing on the horizon. When we caught up, it turned out to be an ENORMOUS fin whale — easily 80 feet long, longer than our 62‑ft vessel that carries up to 114 passengers on deck! This whale was … Read more
We eased into the 5th of July with perfect Summer weather and a lot of dolphins! We encountered not one but 2 pods of offshore bottlenose dolphins on our 9am trip, they were bow riding and showing off with big breaches. Further south we also came upon a pod of ~100 Long beaked common dolphins … Read more
Nothing screams independence like whales cruising the Pacific in a world of their own. This 4th of July morning, we headed out to see what that freedom really looks like. We started with a nursery pod of bottlenose dolphins taking their time at the surface, diving when they felt like it, and surfing the swells … Read more
75 off-shoe bottlenose, fin whale, and all sunny skies. Beautiful day to celebrate America’s 250th birthday. The Inspiration mid-day trip got to hang with a nursery pod (twice!) of bottlenose as we were headed NW, and again as we made our journey back to shore. The whales are definitely Surfin’ USA (La Jolla) today where … Read more
Kickin’ off the holiday weekend with a Minke Missile sighting! Minkes may be small, but wow are they mighty. When they get the zoomies and launch out of the water, they look like torpedoes — and that’s exactly what tipped us off to our first minke’s location. We got some great looks as it moseyed … Read more
It was a slow day on the water with minimal sightings. We set out into the sunset trip ready to see what nature would bring us. When we saw splashes in the distance we figured it was our old friends the common dolphins. But wait…these were bigger. Maybe bottlenose? Waaaaaaaaait….Risso’s! These rare dolphins were traveling … Read more
The baby parade continues! We had clear skies, blue water, and miles of visibility today. We actually spotted one of the pods from 3.5 miles out — picking out a 7‑ft dolphin at that distance takes good glass and great viz. The bottlenose pod was moving slowly except for one huge dolphin that turned the … Read more