SPERM WHALES ALL DAY! We were so lucky to catch up with two Sperm whales on all three trips! We also were extra lucky and witnessed a Minke whale BREACH 16 TIMES! And only a select few even saw one of the Sperm whales breach!
To start our day, during the morning trip, we pushed out to the SW and got to the 9-mile bank. It was a quiet ride so we hooked it to the north. We spotted a Minke out in the distance. We waited for it to surface again when Captain John spotted a spout to the NW. We couldn’t believe it, but it was a Sperm whale! We were so excited and jumping for joy! It spouted over 20 times before going on a dive. We got an awesome look at its beautiful tail raised sky high!
On the afternoon trip, we set out to the Sperm whale zone! We caught up with one that consistently came up for about 20 spouts and went down for ~15-min dives! EVERYTIME we were fortunate to see the beautiful tail raised as it went down for its sounding dive. We noticed it hanging out in deep water around 1300 to 2000-ft of water! It was mostly trending to the north going out to the west and then toward the coast. We were always on high alert waiting for it to surface again! On the last dive, it gave us the slip, but then we saw it behind us as we turned home.
The Sunset trip was one for the San Diego Whale Watch Hall of Fame! We spotted the Ultra rare Sperm whales AND a Minke whale breaching 16X! We cruised out and beyond the drop-off we spotted the sideways spouts from the Sperm whales. It went down for a dive and while waiting for it to come back up, we sighted a Minke whale sporadically cruising to the north. We turned to catch up with the sperm whale when we spotted it in the sky!! lol It breached over and over and we were beyond happy! We waved goodbye and caught up with both of the sperm whales! We got great looks at spouts, backs, dorsal fins, and strong arches with tail flukes lifted to the sky! We began to leave for home, when a select few saw a massive whale breach about a mile away! It was one of the Sperm whales! The sunset was the cherry on the top!
The sperm whales were mostly hanging out within range of our searching range, so come out and take a chance in spotting these rare creatures!
Naturalist,
Vanessa
