Yet ANOTHER day of atypically calm November weather as Captain took us out on the Pacifica. Right out of the gate, we found a pod of roughly 50 Risso’s Dolphon, who also had small calves with them that liked to breach and roll around. Not a minute after leaving them did we find a group of three humpback whales just off of the aquarium! Soon after our encounter, the humpbacks stumbled into the Risso’s, oops! Entertaining though it may be, Risso’s dolphin often do harass the larger humpbacks, causing them to roll around and trumpet-blow, which they did for some time. Eventually, the Risso’s left the humpbacks alone and swam off. We finished up our looks at the humpbacks before venturing far offshore to see what else we might find. Though our off-shore journey did not yield any more cetaceans, we did get amazing looks at the coastline with the beautiful weather. Our second trip found a group of four humpbacks, out in the middle of the canyon, who gave us all great looks, even a few tail-throws and a breach! Mesmerized, we ate up all of our time with these four whales, and headed home under crepuscular rays.
Naturalist Isaiah