Alison Moors
Seems like everywhere we went on this morning’s trip was chock-a-block with food! We started the day with 300 common dolphins feeding amongst thousands of birds. We then found a little fishing boat surrounded by about 30 offshore bottlenose dolphins! They gave us some close passes before continuing their meander through bait fish near 9-mile-bank. … Read more
This time of year you can spot juvenile california sea lions play-fighting and getting ready for their chance at boxing out bigger males for breeding rights! They’re still getting the hang of things, but practice makes perfect. Guests got to enjoy rooting for these two, which laid against each other for some time in a … Read more
Today on the Inspiration we took two trips. The first trip we came across a couple common dolphins and a super special mother and calf pair of fin whales! On the next trip of the day we saw a pod of long beak common dolphins and a something extremely unique. We saw the largest bony … Read more
Golden light, glassy seas, and a whale that stole the whole show. We pushed far to the west on tonight’s sunset trip and were met almost immediately by a loose, scattered group of about 200 common dolphins. They fell into formation beside us like an escort, riding our pressure wave from six miles offshore all … Read more
Followed the seabirds to multiple pods of common dolphins, and even a rare pod of off-shore bottlenose! Guests were expecting a bumpy ride this morning but we were rewarded with calm seas and lots of wildlife sightings. Plenty of cow-calf pairs of common dolphins and a fin who allowed us to watch them feed during … Read more
We came across a couple of lively pods — about 250 dolphins total — and they were feasting on tiny squid! These little guys were only about an inch long, likely market squid. We couldn’t see them in the water, but every time the terns plunged down, they popped back up with mini squid dangling … Read more
And it’s a swordfish! Our sunset cruise had a fairly typical excursion: beautiful bottlenose dolphins in the bay, dainty, playful common dolphins, a huge mola mola (largest bony fish on earth!) and some lounging sea lions. What we were not expecting was one of the rarest and coolest fish w’ve seen on our trips: a … Read more
Grey but glassy seas with some rolling waves greeted us on our Sunday morning excursion. Early in the trip we started out with a blue shark! Not a common sight for us. We headed Northwest out to where all our pelagic feathered friends were heading. They directed us to 2 different pods of long beaked … Read more
Our sunset trip was a dreamy one. We committed hard to the north after finding nothing out to the west earlier today, and it paid off! We were able to hang out with one humpback whale while also sighting a second spout on the horizon. We saw two big tail throws — one on approach … Read more
We enjoyed quite the exciting day with a large group of offshore bottlenose dolphins. There are estimated about 350 in the California offshore population and we saw 50! They locked eyes with awe-inspired passengers as they rode the bow and played in the wake. We pushed off and found the world’s largest bony fish: the … Read more