Vanessa James
Our favorite friendly little ocean ghosts showed up tonight! During our UNREAL sunset tour, a shockingly spunky pod of Risso’s dolphins glowed turquoise under the surface — those tall dorsals were visible from way off, but it’s that pale body color catching the last sunlight that makes them look like little ocean spirits. Since Risso’s … Read more
This morning brought calm seas and lots of fish boiling at the surface near shore as we headed north. Something was chasing the fish into a frenzy, and one group taking full advantage of the action was the short-beaked common dolphins. We watched them make some incredible high jumps, with their red bellies flashing as … Read more
Tuesday afternoon the Privateer heading out to the Pacific enjoying more of the perfect conditions we’re gifted all week long. Close to the drop-off, we found some of our favourite summer locals, short-beaked common dolphins. This pod had about ~100 individuals in the mix, are were tail slapping and chin slapping more than their signature … Read more
Wildlife is always incredible to encounter — but when the ocean conditions are IMMACULATE too? A diabolical duo for unforgettable encounters. We found SO many dolphins today in stellar, glassy‑clear conditions! A very surfy pod of long‑beaked common dolphins, a launch‑happy pod of shorties, and even a drive‑by from a pod of coastal bottlenose about … Read more
Going back to school always brings a melancholy of summer feeling over. But it felt the most summery out on the ocean today. It was so calm and beautiful with glittery seas and superb visibility above and below the water with the most mild of swells. We made our way out to the drop-off and … Read more
We started our sunset trip aboard Privateer with a feeding frenzy right off Mission Beach! Porpoising sea lions, diving seabirds, and lots and lots of long-beaked common dolphins made for an incredible start to the evening. As the sun dipped below the horizon, we encountered another separate pod of common dolphins and got to wave … Read more
Sunday morning we headed way off shore, over 15 miles from Mission Bay to the deep water where we found a very large fin whale! We observed it taking 3 breath at the surface before taking a deeper sounding dive and was pretty consistent with this pattern. On our afternoon excursion we changed direction a … Read more
Sunset tour took us WAY offshore where we found a pod of feeding and playful short‑beaked common dolphins! They were racing around chasing small fish and bringing the feast up from the depths so the birds could grab a snack. These avid surfers were all about getting close to the boat for a ride on … Read more
This afternoon’s trip on the Privateer was one for the books for me! I’ve been humpback whale watching for the past 12 years and each time I see one it’s a unique and amazing experience! This little humpback had lots of whale lice and even some rake marks (potentially orca?) on his tail! So he’s … Read more
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