San Diego Whale Sightings — Updated Daily!

See what our naturalists have spotted during our last 7 trips in Mission Bay and off the coast of San Diego.

16

Whales Spotted

7,300

Dolphins Spotted

5

Different Species Spotted

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Today's Sightings Summary

Detailed Sightings Log - September 12, 2026

Tour Species Count Behavior
Sunset TourLong-beaked Common Dolphin1000Running for their livesForagingSurfingSurface ActivePlaying
Sunset TourOrcas8HuntingMugging

Detailed Sightings Log - September 12, 2026

Tour Species Count Behavior
Mid-day TourHumpback Whale1BreathingFeeding
Mid-day TourLong-beaked Common Dolphin750ForagingBreathingSurfingStampede

Detailed Sightings Log - September 12, 2026

Tour Species Count Behavior
Morning TourLong-beaked Common Dolphin750ForagingSurfingSleepingStampedeSurface ActivePlaying
Morning TourHumpback Whale1BreathingMegapod
Morning Tour

Detailed Sightings Log - September 11, 2026

Tour Species Count Behavior
Mid-day TourLong-beaked Common Dolphin1100Surface ActiveCow/Calf PairBow Riding

Recent Sightings

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Sunday is for the Birds! And Dolphins!

Lots of animals out and about today! The large pod of common dolphins has continued to patrol…

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Dancin’ dolphins

Acrobatic dolphin ballerinas all night tonight. Hundreds of short‑beaked common dolphins on our afternoon tour, and over…

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Half way through August with ALL the dolphins!

As the summer is reaching its turning point starting to slide into autumn, the common dolphins are…

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Sunset Surfers

Sunset tour treated us to absolutely stunning conditions and dolphins everywhere. We had miles of spread‑out short‑beaked…

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Party Like A Risso

Heading out south/southwest aboard the Privateer, we found a nursery pod of around 300 long-beaked common dolphins!…

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Ocean ghosts

Our favorite friendly little ocean ghosts showed up tonight! During our UNREAL sunset tour, a shockingly spunky…

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Our Typical Route

While our route varies with sightings, we typically follow a similar course near known feeding areas.

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This Year's Stats

Total: 24,147 dolphins and 317 whales.

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Departing daily from Mission Bay.

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