I don’t even know where to start for the day! Could it be the pod of 3 Killer Whales? Maybe. Could it be the friendly little Gray Whale? Maybe? Could it be the Risso’s dolphins? Maybe. Or was it just the amazing weather we had on a winter day? Any ways I’ll Just start from the beginning.
10am departure: An amazing group of eager passengers, Captain Rod and myself untie and start our adventure. Right off the bat we find some fuzzy little Sea Otters resting and minding their own business. Next pay a visit to our super active sea lion buddy’s, then off into the ocean we go. Not long out of the harbor Captain Rod gets word of something amazing! We head straight there. Sure enough we arrive and boom. 3 Killer whales!! The oceans apex predator! With all of the excitement of amazing looks at the massive bull orca known as Fatfin… how can the day get any better?
So, after spending some time with Fatfin and his two ladies ,we venture off to see what else the trip has to offer. We head south towards the (Gray whale highway) and I’ll tell you! It didn’t disappoint! We came across a young gray whale hanging out at the surface. We slow down to assess the situation. The young whale is actually surface feeding on Krill. Awesome right? But wait! The cute little whale comes straight to the boat! This whale had made circles around us looking everyone in the eye several times. I could have stayed there for days. Unfortunately, we had to go home. Amazing trip!
1:30pm departure: Same start as the morning trip. Awesome people eager to go look for some wildlife. We took off, hung out with the sea lions who are now just resting, being lazy and cute. Captain Rod hops on the radio.. Turns out Killer Whales do what the do best. Disappear. Ohh well it happens, The plan is to hopefully go and find our little Gray Whale friend. Sure enough, right where we left it. Everyone was in awe of this little whale still feeding on krill and making close passes. As we are watching our little friend we notice something off in the distance… splashing. Time to go. We set a course. After about a mile of travel sure enough, a nice pod of Risso’s Dolphin. Beautiful close passes and plenty of enjoyment for all. With the remainder of our time we head farther south to some blows off in the distance. We ended our day watching several Gray whales take part in their long journey south.
All in all one of the best days I have personally had in a very long time. My personal favorite was our little Gray Whale buddy. I can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings
Andrew Zazeski
