Gray Whale Watching January 12 & 13, 2013

Saturday whale watchers were greeted by sunny skies and a sighting of a gray whale mom/calf pair. We followed them for a short while and wished them well on their journey to the lagoons 450 miles down Baja California. The next sighting of gray whales gave us a good look but only one fluke! In the mean time we came across different pods of common dolphins which delighted all the passengers with their bow and stern riding.

Sunday was even better - lower swells and great visibility- and we followed 2 gray whales which exhibited the more normal pattern of 3-6 blows, showing their flukes and surfacing within 5 minutes and repeating the same behavior again! The crew searched and searched for the telltale signs of dolphins - flocks of bird flying and diving- but to no avail. We all like to have a sightings of baleen and toothed whales but then, finally, in the bay we saw a pod of onshore bottlenose dolphins which rounded out our trip.

Gray Whale Watching January 8, 2013

It was a beautiful sunny day out on the ocean and passengers who were both visitors and San Diego residents enjoyed the gray whale watching cruise. The bottlenose dolphins in the bay off Point Loma gave us our first sighting. As we cruised out toward the Los Coronados Islands, we saw blows in the distance. This gray whale was not exhibiting the normal behavior of 3-5 blows and then showing its flukes. However, we got a good look at its barnacles and dorsal knuckles as it snorkeled along.

As we were leaving to find another whale a small pod of Pacific White Sided dolphins came up to the boat. This is so special! This species of dolphin has not been seen very much for the last two whale seasons and to see these most beautiful dolphins was quite a treat.

Our next whale which we found close to Point Loma did fluke and give us a good show.
As we passed the bait docks, those bottlenose dolphins were back and rode our bow practically back into the harbor.
A great day out on the ocean!
 

Gray Whale Watching January 1, 2013

It was a bit of a gray day, but it didn't dampen the spirits of passengers on board the Sea Adventure 80.   As we proceeded to out into the ocean we were greeted by dolphins and Gray Whales.  The season has started out well with good amounts gray whales being spotted.  

December Whale Watching, 2012

SUMMER BLUE WHALES MAY - OCTOBER

 Nature Cruise Sunday, October 14

Nature Cruise Thursday, September 13

We had a day of "twos”—two pods of common dolphins jumping, tail slapping, bow riding; two flying fish (they look like giant dragon flies); and two mola-molas in addition to two submarines. Unfortunately, there were no baleen whales this trip.

Then an amazing thing happened: We had the first parakeet rescue at sea which, I think, has ever been reported!

We were approaching Point Loma when suddenly a blue parakeet dropped from the sky, probably from the mouth of a sea gull. The traumatized little bird flew into the galley and under a table where a crew member picked it up and sat holding it in his hand—both seeming very calm and happy.

One of the museum Whalers had experience with bird rescue and rehabilitation and applied salve to the wound on its back while another whaler taped a box to transport the bird to its new home. Thanks so much to a mom and her daughter who volunteered to give this little bird a good home.

Once again, one never knows what will happen out on the ocean off San Diego!

Nature Cruise Sunday, September 9

Another great sunny summer's day off San Diego had the usual suspects.  On our way north searching for the elusive blue whale we came upon a great pod of common dolphins, which delighted the young girl from Louisiana with their bow riding, which is so much fun on the Daiwa Pacific.  This trip had the most number and species of birds that we have had all summer.

Our passengers on this trip came from all over the world to see the whales of summer!

Nature Cruise Thursday, September 6

From the wheelhouse: "We have a whale right in front of us!" It was clear from the first sighting that this could only be a Blue. It blew, showed its long grayish back and, just barely, the dorsal fin, disappeared, leaving beautiful huge smooth fluke-prints, came up again several times, and disappeared, without showing its fluke.  For nearly two hours we played a game with this whale, waiting for it to appear somewhere, getting closer at full speed, watching the same sequence of blows, the back, dorsal fin and fluke prints, sometimes from behind, sometimes from the side. We sure made the most of this whale, the only one we would see all day!

Near Coronado Islands we played with 200 to 300 Common Dolphins who were in the mood to ride our bow.

Nature Cruise Sunday, September 2

Nature Cruise Thursday, August 30

On our way out on “Ocean Odyssey” we saw some of the tall ships entering the harbor for the Tall Ship Festival this weekend, delighting our passengers, especially the children on board who saw "pirate ships."  As we headed for the 9-mile bank, the overcast skies dissipated and the sun and blue sky were with us the rest of the day. To the east we could see the amazing, immense cumulus clouds, which brought much needed rain to the back country.

Nature Cruise Thursday, August 23

We had a season's record for the number of species of cetaceans seen off our coast in one day. 

The count for the trip was five blue whales, five fin whales and 60 bottlenose dolphin.

Nature Cruise Sunday, August 19

Nature Cruise Thursday, August 16
We all enjoyed the cooler breezes out on the ocean.

Nature Cruise Sunday August 12 The passengers were pleasantly surprised to see a pod of about 20 Risso's dolphins looking so very different than other dolphins with their bulbous head and white scarred bodies. It was thrilling to see Fin whales surface feeding and the turning antics that sometime go with it -- giving us a good view of a belly and a sideways fluke. Travelers from Germany to Oklahoma were with us having the time of their lives. Two birthdays were aboard -- a shy four year old and a spunky gal turning 87! She said she came to see big whales, and at the end of the trip said "I saw what I came for." It was a day full of adrenaline caused by spending so much of the afternoon with whales very close by -- two Fins came so close we could see the white patch on the right lower jaw, one swam right under the boat, and we actually heard more blows than I could count. In total, we spent time with 10 Blue whales and 8 Fin whales -- their sheer size never fails to impress. Yes, it was a perfect day at sea.

Nature Cruise Thursday August 9

Our first major encounter was a mega pod of common dolphins; we estimate that over 1000 common dolphins entertained us with their antics. Next we found ourselves surrounded by a large pod of the not-so-common Risso's dolphins. They were a slow-moving group of geezers, which gave us lengthy viewing time. Our next dolphin extravaganza was a pod of magnificent offshore bottlenose in a bow-riding mood.

We were actually in dolphin overload when we encountered two large fin whales. They too were in no hurry and swam alongside the boat, never deep diving, for at least 30 minutes.

Continuing our quest for blues, we encountered one more fin whale; two more pods of Risso’s, another good size pod of bottlenose, and multiple sightings of said species in smaller groups.  In spite of the absence of blues, we all concluded that it was a fantastic voyage.

 Photos of dolphin by Jason Hum

Nature Cruise Sunday August 5

Nature Cruise Thursday August 2

It was another great summer's day on the ocean.  We saw common dolphins and a mola mola, which we have been fortunate to see on most of these summer whale cruises. 

We also sighted a large blow of a blue whale which came up on our port side.  Then on our starboard we saw another kind of whale which was much smaller and appeared darker in color.  What could it be?  Was it a fin whale?  Finally, we saw the distinctive "hump" with a dorsal fin and then a fluke.  It was the first humpback of this summer season!

As the humpback was on a deep dive, we went and explored the five blue whales (with more blows in the distance) and got some good photos and information about these largest animals that ever lived.

Of course, we were all looking to see the humpback which again appeared swimming in the vicinity of another blue whale.  A mighty tail twist from the humpback and a fluke from the blue whale put a perfect ending to another great summer's day on the ocean.

Nature Cruise Sunday, July 22

Our first sighting was a pod of 500 common dolphins which looked smaller than the usual size we see and may have been a group of teenagers on the loose—always a delight with jumps, tail slaps, riding the bow and stern waves.

Our next sightings were two pairs of blue whales—the introverts. They came to the surface for a few blows and then dove down, seeming to be avoiding us we left them and headed south.

The next group of blue whales acted like they were practicing for blue whale Olympics. They came to the surface, dove down and came up again a long way away. Whichever pair could come up the farthest away seemed to be the winner.

Then the grand finale: There were six whales close to the north Coronado Island which finally showed flukes, gave us the pleasure of hearing their blows and came up close to the boat for the best photo opportunity. They left behind giant footprints resulting from the up and down motion of their flukes.

Nature Cruise Sunday, July 19, 2012

Today the orca was very curious about the boat.  It stayed with us for over an hour, coming close to the boat, rolling over and swimming along the boat and under it to the other side.  It was doing many fluke slaps.  In fact, at one point, it stayed within 50 feet of the boat and performed eight fluke slaps in a row while swimming in a circle.  Also, it sometimes just stopped within 50 feet of the boat and just stayed there for a while, at other times it would align itself with the boat and swim slowly right next to us (less than 2 feet away).

 After we did not see if for over one hour, as we looked at blues, it re-appeared and was somewhat following a pod of about 1,000 dolphins.  It never actually attacked them, but it made them change their formation.  At one point, we think that we actually saw it swimming around and under the dolphins within 50 feet of the boat.

 It was an amazing sighting.

Report and photos by San Diego Natural History Museum Whaler Jack Berdy

Nature Cruise Sunday, July 15, 2012

We had a great trip out of H&M Landing on the Ocean Odyssey today.  The passengers, crew and volunteers from the San Diego Natural History Museum could not believe their eyes when we saw this one Orca.  A large dorsal fin was spotted through the window by the cook who was busy grilling, but rushed out to make sure that he was seeing an Orca and alerted us all to this very rare occurrence.  We all had great views of it as it swam around the boat.  Then it repeatedly swam under the boat - sometimes upside down!  We all got a lot of exercise rushing from one side to the other to see this amazing marine mammal.
We left it to get on with more whale watching and boy, were we rewarded.  We saw 20 blue whales - blows all over the place and signs of them feeding.  We also sighted  4 fin whales, 2 megapods of common dolphins, 500 bottlenose and a really large mola mola.  Phew! - so much excitement.
Tired but very happy passengers returned to the dock with the volunteers rushing off to tell their families and friends about this amazing day.
Whalers Heather, Karen L. and Judy L

Nature Cruise Thurs, July 12, 2012

We had a wonderful day aboard the Top Gun with Capt. Scott and crew. The passengers and Whalers were treated to some early entertainment as we exited the bay when crew member Edgar tossed leftover bait fish overboard, thus attracting a bazillion gulls, pelicans and other assorted bird life. A massive cloud of feathered friends engulfed the boat to the amusement of all, plus providing a brilliant photo op.

As for whales, we were treated to an early encounter in shallow water by a big blue who was slowly cruising along. He allowed us a few minutes of companionship before demonstrating his perfect high and wide fluke and vanishing under the waves.

Heading for deeper waters, we spotted two more blues of the shy variety. We just had brief glimpses of backs before they too departed the scene. Early afternoon brought us much better luck: two magnificent blues who were attempting to set an Olympic swimming-speed record, rapidly surface lunging and churning the waters, demonstrating that blues can really move out when they desire. They allowed us to accompany them for several miles, doing brief dives and resurfacing close to the boat much of the time.

The day was short on dolphins, but we did get up close and personal with a huge mola mola. Crew member Edgar estimated that it weighed about 1,000 pounds, making it one of the largest that some of us had seen.

Nature Cruise  Sunday, July 8, 2012

 Another great day on the water!  We saw two things that we rarely see on these trips:  a sea turtle and an 8-foot-long jelly.  Next we saw 11 blue whales scattered in twos and threes in 9-mile bank area, with many blows in the distance. They gave us a great show; one fluked twice and then others came quite close to the boat, lifting their giant heads as though they were looking at us. In the distance we saw big splashes which indicated that the whales were feeding on the abundant krill in the water, and at one point we saw the distinctive orange-colored blue whale poop.

Just as we thought the whale sightings were over, we saw a fin whale, which was very distinctive in color and in the size and shape of the dorsal fin. To round out the trip, we saw a pod of around 500 common dolphins doing their usual jumping, tail and head slapping and riding the bow and stern waves.

Nature Cruise Thursday, July 5, 2012

So, the day after the fireworks glitch, there were passengers who were in San Diego celebrating the 4th of July and spent the day after by going out on our ocean wilderness hoping to see the whales of summer. As we exited San Diego bay, we were proceeded by an Navy aircraft carrier, the John C. Stennis which made a short visit to our Naval Aircraft Basin to take on supplies and was headed back to sea.   We tarried by the bait docks to allow the aircraft carrier to go first and saw the usual sea lions, pelicans, cormorants gulls and egrets. On entering the ocean we spotted some common dolphins which were breakfasting on the small fish off San Diego Bay and not much interested in interacting with the boat. We proceeded to the 9 mile bank where we had had some luck seeing whales.  Finally, a big splash and two really big slick spots on the ocean alerted the museum volunteers and Ocean Odyssey crew to be alert.  A big fin whale surfaced - what we all refer to as a "finicky" fin.  The whale came up on one side for a brief view, dove down, came up a ways away on the other side for another brief view and continued this pattern of behavior. As the captain saw some other blows in the distance, we took off and saw two other fin whales which were much more cooperative and gave us some good photo opportunities. Time was short - we came back to San Diego Bay and saw a Los Angeles class fast attack submarine being escorted out of the bay by Naval Security which rounded out our July 5th trip - we all had a good time!
Judy L, Gaynell and Jerry - San Diego Natural History Museum volunteers.

Nature Cruise Sunday, July 1, 2012

What a day out on the water!  We first encountered a lonely mola mola to get folks interested.  He fooled quite a few passengers for a while since he seemed to be swimming vertically with his dorsal fin out of the water and at higher speeds than we are used to seeing, so people thought that he was a shark.  A longer and closer look confirmed that it was in fact a mola mola.

We then came across a pod of about 800 or so common dolphins that included several mom and calf pairs.  In true dolphin style, several were bow riding and performing great acrobatic jumps out of the water.  A short while later we saw a smaller pod of 50 or so offshore bottlenose dolphins that offered a fantastic opportunity to compare the size and coloration between these two species of dolphin.

 A short while later we got our first glimpse of some blue whales.  It appeared to be a pair, and one was noticeably smaller than its partner.  They gave us some great sightings relatively close to the boat, and then we continued on our search.  As we got closer to the nine-mile bank, we saw several more blows and before we knew it we were surrounded by whales!  There were several fin whales in the mix as well.  At one point there was even a pair of fin whales that were swimming and surfacing in unison for a few minutes!  It was a great day out of the water to be surrounded by whales.  We counted a total of 12 blues and 4 fins that gave us great views, and there were several more blows in the distance in all directions.  And for the bird lovers out there, there was even a black vented shearwater sighting, as well as several sooty shearwaters.

 Between all of the whale sightings, dolphin sightings, the warm weather, the perfect amount of cloud cover, and the chocolate chip cookies baked by the crew, it was yet another exceptional day to be out on the beautiful waters of San Diego taking in all that this marvelous environment has to offer!
Whaler Kim plus Connie, Vicky and Heather
photos by Judy L.

Nature Cruise Thursday, June 28, 2012

The two volunteers from the San Diego Natural History Museum (Judy and Emelia) along with Judy who represented H&M Landing all agreed that we have never seen the number of dolphins on one trip that we saw today.  The first sighting was of a megapod of at least a thousand common dolphins which came up to the boat - bow and stern riding with those in the distance jumping at a height which looked like at least 20 feet with others tail or head slapping.  There were many mom/calf pairs which delighted all the passengers.  We think that this interaction between boat and dolphins is the Disneyland ride for dolphins.
Then, as we continued out to the deeper water, we saw offshore bottlenose dolphins and had an opportunity to compare the size and coloration between the two species.  They also came close and gave us another photo opportunity.
As we made our way out beyond the 9 mile bank, we came upon at every mile, another pod of bottlenose dolphins.   There were at least another 4 pods sighted.  Have we ever seen this many offshore bottlenose dolphins?  In a word - NO.
As we made our way back to San Diego bay, we saw another pod of common dolphins which again swam up to the boat and provided another great photo opportunity.
For bird enthusiasts there was a sighting of a brown booby which followed us for a while with the usual pelicans, terns, shearwaters, cormorants and gulls.
It was a beautiful summer's day on the ocean.

Nature Cruise Sunday, June 24, 2012

It appears to be THE SUMMER OF THE MYSTERY WHALES:
If you have been following the blog, the first summer whale\ trip had a whale very rarely seen - a Sei whale which was confirmed by a NOAA scientist thanks to great pictures from a passenger.
The second whale trip was fairly straight forward with blue whales.
The third - once again - what was that whale we all thought.  The dorsal fin looked like a fin whale and when we finally got a good look at the body it appeared the mottled gray color and had a big splash guard in front of the blow holes like a blue whale.  Could it be a hybrid?  There have been reports of whales resulting from the mating of blues and fins.  We could speculate but - scientifically - only a DNA test would confirm.  Look at the pictures and see the anomalies.
The other whale we saw was equally mysterious.  Once again, looked like a fin but had a slightly different dorsal fin.  Seemed larger than a Byrde's - perhaps it was the Sei we saw the first trip.
At least we were all clear on the dolphin species - a pod of offshore bottlenose was sighted - the naturalists gave a sigh of relief - those we knew for sure!
The pictures of the different whales are attached.
This is what makes going out on the ocean an adventure for us all - never know what we will see but always enjoy the ocean wilderness off San Diego.