It was cold but sunny as I arrived at the wharf today. Our morning crowd checked in a bit early, so we eagerly took advantage and got out on the water ahead of schedule. The Sea Lion bulls seemed especially loud in their usual haunts under the commercial wharf and after our brief visit with them, Captain Rod took us out into the bay.
The crowd was friendly and engaging and handled the heaving ride well as we cruised westward into the swell. It felt a bit quiet on the water but at last we found Captain Kate on the High Spirits and shared looks of three Gray Whales making their northbound journey. They were showing well and eventual gave us a very close pass, by which time we were ready to explore again. We found one solo Gray Whale that was a bit shy and then a pair of two more northbounders.
On our return journey I started to think it was going to be a Gray Whale only day, but moments later Rod found a pod of 50 Risso’s Dolphins. With all of us satisfied we headed back to the dock. I sang a sea shanty as we pulled back into the wharf and then got the passengers to sing “Drunken Sailor” with me. Overall, a very successful whale watching trip.
-Naturalist Andrew B.
