We were rockin’ and rollin’ out there! The seas were fun & nautical! Common dolphins were our friends today! We were excited to see them on both of our tours today!
On our afternoon trip, we cruised out to the NW and out at 11-miles from shore we sighted some big splashes on the horizon! There were about ~300 Short-beaked Common dolphins spread out over a half a mile! At first, they were a bit tricky to catch up with as they kept going down for dives. We slowed it down and the whole pod began to surface all around us! It was pure magic to see so many surfing in our wake and riding the bow! We got amazing looks as they popped up beside us! We even got see a few cow/calf pairs! They seemed to be enjoying the waves! Some used the waves to launch them even higher out of the water! The ride home was nice and smooth. A couple people saw a small dorsal fin that belonged to either a shark or a Mola mola! We sighted a small pod of 4-6 Coastal bottlenose on our way in too!
The sunset trip was just as fun and rolly! We pushed out to the west and after reaching the drop-off we turned south to follow that for a little while. We sighted some splashes to the SW of us and realized it was another pod of Common dolphins. This time we found a big pod of ~200 Long-beaked Common dolphins leaping and bounding all around us! They were mostly headed north but once they caught up with us they beelined it over to hang out! Passengers were stoked to see such energetic dolphins surrounding us. We got great looks all around the boat. We even had a nursery pod with teeny tiny calves launching out of the water, doing their best to keep up with mom! We waved goodbye to our new dolphriends as they continued to the west. We had a jaw-dropping sunset where the entire sky was on fire! We even noticed a small rainbow over Point Loma. We caught a quick glimpse of a green flash. The ride home was beautiful, nice and smooth!
Sea ya on the next one!
Naturalist,
Vanessa
