Sunday of Labor Day Weekend was a sunny one and our guest-passengers enjoyed it immensely. Captain Michael took us out about 7-miles offshore into water over 1000’ deep to an incredible spectacle, what is known as a “baitball” of forage fish, likely sardines and/or sardines. It had to be one of the largest prey patches of the entire summer, attracting 4 species of cetacean. We could see the blows before arriving from a fin whale and a humpback and we did briefly see a Minke whale surface next to our vessel. There were about 800 common dolphins changing direction while foraging. The fish would try to escape, but the dolphins and perhaps some unseen fish predators, such as mackerel or tuna beneath, driving the massive school of fish to the surface. There were a few California sea lions as well, getting in on the action. They could probably hear the feeding calls of the whales and dolphins from miles away and see the birds gone wild.
Thousands of black-vented shearwaters, pink-footed shearwaters wheeled and turned and came up from their communal underwater pursuit diving forays. It was a joyous, chaotic scene. Fun to hear the humans crying out at the activity whenever the whales and/or dolphins surfaced. This was an A#1, first-class whale watching trip, everybody! Hope you tell your friends and come out again soon. —Naturalist Greg McCormack
