We headed far west today!
Unusual for this time of year but we journeyed beyond the “gray whale highway” and well past drop off to see a feeding frenzy today!
Our friends at Gone Whale Watching gave us a call and shared info about a feeding fin whale more than 10 miles from Mission Bay and it seemed too good to miss.
There was a lot of action to be seen with hundreds, if not thousands of shearwaters both resting in rafts after gorging themselves, and chasing and diving after all the baitfish.
We also encountered a massive pod of ~ 500 common dolphins chasing the food and following the baitballs. It was great to be surrounded by so many dolphins again! Several babies were seen in the pod porpoising next to their mums also.
But the star of the show today was the huge fin whale! It definitely wasn’t shy and snuck up on us making the loudest spouts. At times we got to see its rostrum and lower jaw as it broke the surface of the water to breathe.
This enormous beauty was following both the dolphins and birds feeding on the same baitfish and switching between split dives and deeper sounding dives.
A cool sighting for late January or “fools spring” as it feels right now.
Right before we made it into the jetties again, we got brief look at a single southbound gray whale.
Rounding out our trip with 2 kinds of baleen whales and 1 kind of toothed whale.
Definitely a successful day at sea.
– Naturalist Ruth
