We had a spectacular, warm sunny afternoon excursion 9-miles off the San Diego coastline. We were fortunate in finding two large pods of short-beaked common dolphins cavorting, foraging and leaping out of the water. These dolphin pods took the time to check us out on the dolphin equivalent of a “human watching tour”. They showed off their consummate swimming and leaping ability. We cheered and appreciated the grace and beauty of these majestic mammals. We saw many types of seabirds as well, including Red-necked phalaropes, Parasitic Jaegers, Elegant terns, black-vented shearwaters and other delightful seabirds. Airplanes, helicopters and several ships of all sizes were seen on the horizon as we covered a large area of the nearshore environment in the Eastern Tropical Pacific. Come on out for one of our sunset trips, starting at 4:30 PM and going just past the 7PM sunset at 7:30PM. —Naturalist Greg
On our sunset trip, just 5-miles offshore, one of our top-deck guests yelled out that she saw the back of a whale. Captain Michael responded by turning the vessel around and patiently waiting. Sure enough, after several minutes, a Minke whale surface two or three more times, giving most of us good looks as it took a breath and break from foraging. Later in the trip, our Skipper found us a pod of about 500 Long-beaked common dolphins swimming strongly and gracefully under the setting sun, a spectacular image that won’t soon be forgotten. It was a bait ball, or all-you-can-eat ocean buffet table out in the same area that we saw our Minke whale earlier. All in all, spectacular sights to take in and hard to describe. That means you need to experience this yourself sometime in the near future. See you soon, wildlife enthusiasts. —Marine biologist Greg McCormack
