On our morning trip, we went way offshore, about 11-miles to the southwest. We had great looks at a pod of 250 short-beaked common dolphins and a few good looks at two humpback whales.
On our afternoon trip, we had sunshine and some splash-splashing water, especially at the channel entrance to Mission Bay, which made for a lot of smiles. It is the negative ions that produce a feeling of peace and happiness. Many of us became thelassophiles! Like waterfalls, splashing water produces high concentrations of negative ions, known as the Lenard effect, a natural process where water molecules split apart due to the collision and friction of falling water. The newly formed ions become abundant in the surrounding air and are absorbed into the bloodstream when inhaled to produce a biochemical reactions that result in positive feelings.
Now, Captain Brian went toward the haystack-shaped Coronado Islands of northern Baja California, Mexico. There we found three humpback whales swimming south. We got great looks. Unfortunately, one of them was entangled in fishing gear. Thankfully, someone had called this in earlier and a vessel from Sea World came out to investigate. We have one more trip this week-end, the sunset trip! —Naturalist Greg McCormack
