Vanessa James
The Privateer combed along the drop-off 5 miles from shore and encountered a pod of ~300 long-beaked common dolphins! This nursery pod had lots of cow-calf pairs and guests got to enjoy seeing fresh babies swimming alongside mom. Females have a 10-11 month gestation period and give birth to a single calf that it about … Read more
La Jolla Canyon was sleepy for the Privateer trip this afternoon, until our deckhand Brandon spotted a giant ocean sunfish right off the bow! With a slow pass under the boat guests got to see this giant up close and personal, even noticing a parasite attached near their eye. This opened up a great discussion … Read more
Short-fin mako shark swam around the Privateer this morning before we even made it three miles from the jetty! Amazing to see the detail along its body, and guests could view close up their many teeth and soulful eyes. Long-beaked common dolphins showed us their beautiful dolphin bodies on the way back in and we … Read more
The ocean absolutely erupted with life on our afternoon trip. Hundreds of common dolphins lit up the horizon with splashes, and once we caught up to the pod, they were all in for the waves. They stuck with us for a good 30 minutes, leaping out of the swells with tons of babies in tow. … Read more
Holy mola we covers a lot of water today. Out beyond the drop-off we saw an enormous spout on the horizon and spent a good amount of time searching for the source of said spout. Right when we thought all hope was lost, a mighty fin was spotted 3 miles from where the spout was … Read more
We had a fun group out from Montana! We enjoyed nice sea conditions and cruised out to the NW toward La Jolla! We spotted our first signs of wildlife at the drop-off. There were splashes popping up all around us and were excited to catch up with some Offshore bottlenose dolphins! They were racing fast … Read more
Today we took the Ohana out to the Pacific and found a pod of long beak common dolphins flying through the water. The Pod moved seemingly in unison racing through the waves. Best fishes, Naturalist Madi
No Shortage of “Shorties” today! Our Memorial Day Monday Morning excursion took us out to the west with splashes galore from scattered but acrobatic pod of ~300 short beaked common dolphins! Spring and summer is best time to see baby dolphins, and the pod today was no exception. On our afternoon trip with a complete … Read more
Common dolphins joining for the sunset! This evening’s trip came in with common dolphins at the 11th hour, just in time for sunset! We enjoyed a nice time with them and did some birding in the mean time! There is always something to enjoy even when whales and dolphins are being sneaky. After all, cetaceans … Read more
We set out West today and had a few California Sea Lions say hello to us! While we were underway we got to see some Brown Pelicans cruising over a very calm ocean, taking advantage of the very little wild we experienced at sea today. After some patience we were rewarded by a Blue Whale! … Read more