Vanessa James
We always want to show our guests as much diversity of life as possible. So today we pointed west this morning and came up with a very cute fin whale! It had a lot of what looked like cookie cutter shark bite scars. This is quite interesting because researchers have not pinpointed fin whale breeding … Read more
For our sunset trip we hung around a sleeping juvenile fin whale for a few breath cycles before taking off and getting a show from our short-beaked common dolphin friends. Calm seas and good views for everybody on the Privateer. Naturalist Sandy
The Privateer took off 18 miles straight west this afternoon, going a full 5 miles farther than our typical trips. But today, we had a mission: find the whales. And we did! 🎯 Three giants surrounded the vessel, circling us and giving us incredible views of their massive white bellies as they glided beneath and … Read more
Thousands of dolphins greeted us off the coastline today! We started with a pod of over 1000 short‑beaked commons milling around and snacking on big squid scraps at the surface. Then came a mellow pod of bottlenose with babies cruising alongside, and we wrapped up with an enthusiastic pod of long‑beaks showing off their surfing … Read more
This fin whale had a feast all to themselves (except for the watchful eyes of the guests of the Privateer this evening) who got to witness about 7 dives over the course of ~30 minutes! Naturalist Sandy
This insane streak of sightings continues! We never know how long it’s going to last, but I’d say it’s a GREAT time to get out on a boat! We headed out west and found ALL the dolphins — 300+ short‑beaked common dolphins slicing through glassy seas, bursting into short sprints, and launching out of the … Read more
I absolutely love that fin whales have chosen to spend their summer vacation in San Diego. The coordinates have been consistent the past few days, with a congregation of fin whales hanging out in the same area. This indicates that they aren’t in travel mode; instead, they’re simply circling the area and meeting up. On … Read more
6 fin whales! 6! Fin! Whales! This week we’ve been seeing not only a huge number of fin whales but some amazing behavior, including belly rolls like this beutiful fin was displaying for us, AND A BREACH. Fin whales are not the acrobats that humpbacks are so seeing this behemoth launch their body out of … Read more
We had a fantastic time spotting fin-backed whales on our early Tuesday trip aboard the Privateer. About 8 miles from Mission Bay, we spotted a pair of fin whales in the same location as last night, with synchronized breath cycles. When we arrived, we were treated to extended surface time, with over 10 breaths in … Read more
This evening we had the privilege to hang out with 5 fin whales!! With another couple in the distance we never made it to. Absolutely nonstop action. The first was a duo swimming together and then a trip that would pop up all together and were very curious of our boat. Today they did not … Read more