We were counting our lucky stars today! We had beautiful sea conditions, amazing visibility and sighted a fun pod of ~50 Short-beaked Common dolphins!
We left Mission bay and cruised out to the west and enjoyed the nice cool breeze, a huge relief from the warmer temperatures on land. We ventured out to the drop-off and were alerted there was a Fin whale sighting earlier in the day. We waited a good 15-min at its last known location then began our search to the north. We almost made it La Jolla, when we sighted some splashes up ahead! We observed a pod of ~50 Short-beaked Common dolphins! We were on track to the dolphins when a surprise rare sighting of a Guadalupe fur seal was “jug-handling” at the oceans surface! This a common behavior of this species that often tells us it’s a Guadalupe fur seal and not any other pinniped like a California sea lion, which we normally tend to encounter. You could see it’s cute little head resting and it’s longer ear flap sticking out, also another identification characteristic! Once we caught up with the Shorties we noticed a couple of cow/calf pairs, an exciting sight to see! The calves followed mom very closely even as they were escorted to surf in our wake! They were traveling to the SW while we continued more straight south. We waved goodbye and wished them well!
We have one more trip to go, we will update you soon on our sightings!
Naturalist,
Vanessa
