We headed out to the deep water on our Monday afternoon excursion looking for baleen whales and toothed whales. In the distance, we saw a solid line of splashing white moving water coming from a stampede from a huge pod of ~500 common dolphins!
It was incredible to see so many wild animals just being wild.
Initially, it seemed like just long-beaked common dolphins, but there seemed to be a large amount of short-beaked common dolphins in the mix too.
With it being so clear in the water, we got to enjoy dense concentrations of the pod bow-riding with us as well as popping out of the water like popcorn.
We got a second stampede while in the midst of the pod, and it expanded no close to a mile of dolphins!
Not a sight we get every day.
On our sunset trip we had seemingly metallic seas, and a small but energetic pod of ~50 short-beaked common dolphins. They zigged and zagged along with the Privateer. But it was a quiet day for baleen whales.
We had an opalescent sunset and a beautiful nearly full moon welcoming us back to the dock.
-Naturalist Ruth
