What a beautiful day in the bay. We observed five species of marine mammals once we left the harbor! We started our trip with Humpback Whales and California Sea Lions feeding together. Up next we had a large pod of Risso’s Dolphins (500-600 dolphins) with a small number of Pacific Whitesided Dolphins mixed in (30-40). The Risso’s Dolphins were playful for part of the encounter; showing off with some breaches and head slaps. Typically Risso’s sleep during the day since they do most of their hunting at night, but some decided to wake up and be active today!
After viewing the whales and the dolphins we took a search route to the south while sea conditions were favorable. We came across a group of Dall’s Porpoise near Carmel Bay. The encounter with the porpoise was brief, which is pretty typical for this species – but exciting none the less!
Our in house photographer, Slater Moore, made a vlog of today’s trip. He got some great drone footage of the whales with the sea lions. You can check out his video here.
