Vanessa James

Vanessa James

Born in New Mexico, a landlocked state, Vanessa's passion for marine life was ignited during family vacations to San Diego. Inspired by the rich marine ecosystem, Vanessa pursued their love for the ocean, volunteering at a local aquarium and later working at a veterinarian's office during high school. Their journey into marine biology took flight when they transferred to San Diego State University, where they earned a bachelor's degree in Marine Biology. Toward the end of her academic career, Vanessa volunteered with the Museum Whalers at the San Diego Natural History Museum and served as a board member for the American Cetacean Society-San Diego chapter. She also interned at the Southwest Fisheries Science Center in La Jolla, interning with a marine mammologist digitizing journal publications to expand the access to older scientific journal publications. In addition to her academic contributions, Vanessa collaborated with a consulting firm conducting aerial surveys for marine mammals along the Southern California Bight and in Seattle, WA. Her dedication led to a role as a Marine Mammal Observer, where she assisted with seismic oil exploration activities in Cook Inlet, Alaska, and continued their work in San Diego monitoring marine mammal populations. For nearly a decade, Vanessa has been apart of San Diego Whale Watch, working in various capacities as a Naturalist, Ticket Booth Representative, and Deckhand. Today, she is training to become a Captain, solidifying her longstanding commitment to marine education, conservation, and stewardship. With a diverse background in fieldwork, research, and public engagement, Vanessa remains dedicated to understanding and protecting marine mammals while fostering a deep appreciation for marine life in others.
January 8, 2025

January 8, 2025

We had a fun day out on the Pacific Ocean! While boarding at the dock, a couple Coastal Bottlenose dolphins came to say hello! We continued to check out the bait receivers and usually our first marine mammals we see are California sea lions, but we sighted a few more...

January 5, 2025

January 5, 2025

We LOVE Common dolphins! We started our trip with sightings of ~5 Inshore bottlenose dolphins just outside of Quivira basin. We continued out and we caught up with two pods of Long-beaked Common dolphins 11-miles from Mission Bay! Out to the west, we spotted 3 huge...

January  02, 2024

January 02, 2024

Long-beaked Common dolphins stole our hearts today! On our morning trip, we had fog a few miles from shore, so we stayed close to the coast. We had amazing views of the coast as well as plenty of birds to watch! We pushed out to the west once we were outside of Bird...

December 30, 2024

December 30, 2024

The Common dolphins were amazing today! On our morning trip, we cruised out to the drop-off and spotted some birds to the NW of us. We went to investigate and found a big pod of ~200 Long-beaked Common dolphins! They were sighted in all directions around us, very...

December 29, 2024

December 29, 2024

It was a swell day with swell dolphins! We pushed out of the Mission bay jetties and cruised to the west. While scanning all around us, we noticed a lot of bird activity to the south. The birds were scattered over a mile or two! Once we got a little closer, we could...

December 20, 2024

December 20, 2024

We attended a couple of dolphin parties out at sea! We had incredible sea conditions and amazing visiblity on our Sunset trip! We set out to the west and spotted some fast-moving Long-beaked Common dolphins! They raced to the north just a few miles from shore! Birds...

December 18, 2024

December 18, 2024

We had a fun foggy sunset trip today! We set out of Mission bay and could see a huge fog bank coming in! We watched it coming from the SW so we went to the NW and followed a nice pocket of good visibility. We had smooth seas out to almost 10-miles from shore! We...