Vanessa James
We set out of Mission bay and cruised to the NW and had pretty quiet ride. We sighted shearwaters, phalaropes, and other birds along with flying fish! We turned in toward La Jolla and encountered the sweetest most energetic Humpback cruising south in about 140-ft of water! At first it was pretty mellow coming up … Read more
The Privateer set out Southwest this beautiful afternoon to find some largely anticipated wildlife, and lo and behold, we found it. At the drop off, we quickly spotted not one, but TWO separate humpback spouts. This pair was coasting slowly along towards the border- but not without some excitement! The leading whale threw its tail … Read more
We headed out today wondering what the ocean might offer after several days of killer whales in the area—and when orcas roll through, most wildlife usually vanishes into the trenches. NOT TODAY We found one incredibly fast humpback with bright white pectoral fins slicing through the water like headlights. It was easy to track underwater … Read more
Orcas in San Diego AGAIN! This afternoon we RACED back offshore to see if we could catch up with the Killer Whales again… and WOW, did we succeed. On our first trip, they were busy feeding. This time? They were celebrating. The whales were doing what we can only describe as happy belly dances, rolling … Read more
A misty morning enveloped Privateer as we headed out of the jetties. All of a sudden, we got the report: black and whites! As we approached, we also had almost 1000 common dolphins off the bow. This is of course good news for the orcas as the commons are their main prey here off the … Read more
BREACH! After a quiet afternoon, our evening trip got a surprise visit from a younger humpback whale that practically escorted us all the way toward San Diego Bay, hanging out right in the entrance channel. This youngster put on one heck of a show! We watched it rolling through the kelp, enjoying what can only … Read more
Today the Privateer had an unforgettable trip with a juvenile humpback MUGGING the boat! Unfortunately, this whale was heavily injured probably from a vessel strike. Despite his apparent injuries, he was friendly enough and swimming normally. Humpbacks are sadly prone to vessel strikes and entanglement as they do not have echolocation like their toothed whale … Read more
The Pacific had a whale of a day in store for us! 🌊🐬 Before meeting our humpback star, we were treated to an almost endless stretch of long-beaked common dolphins! We charged far out west in search of wildlife, and once we found it, it was like opening a can of worms… life was everywhere! … Read more
BLACK‑AND‑WHITES IN SAN DIEGO… IN AUTUMN Yes. REALLY. Today the Pacific decided to throw us a curveball — and we LOVED it. Our favorite winter visitors, the Pacific white‑sided dolphins, showed up on the second day of Autumn like, “Surprise, we missed you.” And they were on one — boat‑curious, playful, zipping around like maniacs. … Read more
We searched the ocean today and while we weren’t seeing many mammals at first, we were very entertained by the water-breathing animals that frequent San Diego’s shoreline. Jumping rays, flying fish and even a huge marlin were on the list for surface fish today! As we turned back toward home, BOOM. 1000 common dolphins in … Read more