The variety of wildlife that showed during our 9AM trip was off the charts!! Blue whales also continue their streak of showing up for our lucky guest. Our first stop earned us a look at two humpback whales, four blue whales and a single shy fin whale! It’s really rare that we get all these animals in a single stop and all in our guest line of sight.
Note that the blue whale is actually a silver or grayish color. They earn their name for the blue color they shine when they are right below the surface.
After some great looks at the big whales we decided to take a cruise to the North to find some variety. Capt. Rod spotted some splashing during our exploration and discovered some Dall’s porpoise slicing thru the ocean. These tiny little porpoise are some of the fastest creatures in the ocean and can reach speeds close to 35 MPH. This great speed actually makes them difficult to look at and photograph. Luckily, Capt. Rod was able to maneuver the Pacifica to get us super looks at the quick little creatures.
Once the Dall’s porpoise dispersed, we were able to locate a large spread out pod of Risso’s dolphins. A large pod of about 200 animals displayed of active behaviors around our guest. Many breached, tailed slapped and head slapped near us. These big dolphin also passed close to the Pacifica to display their unique and unusual scars and markings. A tiny pod of Pacific white-sided dolphins made a brief appearance, they were difficult to see but our sharped eyed still tracked them down.
A trio of Risso’s dolphin pass the Pacifica showing off their unique looks.
A pod of Risso’s dolphin pass the Pacifica showing off their unique looks.
One of the best days on the water! Our second trip got to see 8 blue whales and 2 humpback whales! A few of our guest have been paying attention to our reports and made the trip to Discovery Whale Watch to get a chance to see the blue whales! Come and join us soon for a amazing life changing experience.
Naturalist Eric Austin Yee
