San Diego Whale Sightings 12/4/24 to 12/17/24. Please find the Naturalist Notes for the week of 12/4/24 to 12/17/24 from the onboard team of volunteer naturalists for our San Diego Whale & Dolphin Watching Adventure: up-close views and educational moments by expert captains and volunteer naturalists from the San Diego Natural History Museum. Don’t forget that kid’s cruise is FREE in December and January; use promo code WHALEYFUN.
12.14.24
9:30 am Whale Watch & Dolphin Sightings:
Long and Short-Beak Common Dolphins
Sea Lions
It was a beautiful day in San Diego. The water was great and nice and calm. We headed out looking for whales. Captain Rick took us all around the area where our whales usually are hiding out. We travel north along the coast, looking for any signs of wildlife.
It was Captain Rick and our first officer Jaden narrating today’s trip. They are excellent at providing information about everything that comes into view. The first mammals we saw were many sea lions on the buoys. We did not encounter whales. The wonder of the ocean is you never know what you will see. There were 800 common dolphins with a lot of moms and babies. It was amazing watching these dolphins swim along together jumping and swimming over each other.
The babies are hidden by their mom so that you can barely see them. You have to look closely and see if there’s a small fin beside the larger mom moving through the water. There were a lot of other adults, swimming along just as quickly. The whole pod was moving very fast flashing and having a good time. All of a sudden, it was as if somebody blew a whistle and this whole pod turned and stampeded in the total opposite direction. It’s amazing to watch. All these dolphins make sudden turns and heading different directions very quickly. Funny to watch how they managed to keep going without hitting each other and just moving as fast as anything. The captain had to speed up to keep up with the pod.
It was a great day on the Adventure!
Alan Seekys
12.16.24
9:30 am – 1:00 pm Whale Watch & Dolphin Sightings:
250 Long-Beaked Common Dolphins
2 juvenile Humpbacks
The Adventure headed out west through San Diego Bay under slightly cloudy weather conditions. We did notice a few Sea Lions swimming alongside our vessel most likely in search of food.
As we continued our journey westward the Captain decided to go north along the coast about 2.5 miles off the area known as Ocean Beach. Guests did see the infamous “OB Pier” that is currently closed for repair work.
We continued our journey further north and the Captain decided to turn around and head back towards the south as we could see some splashing taking place in the distance. We came across a pod of 250 Long-beaked Common Dolphins who displayed a small stampede for a few minutes. These dolphins came across a small bait ball of anchovies. After observing for ten minutes, Adventure began to head north again. Within 8 minutes we observed two spouts 1,000 feet from our vessel and found two juvenile Humpbacks. Their dive times were between four and eight minutes. They were grazing on bait fish in the area. We did notice that a surge and the tip of a flipper may have indicated a possible mating behavior. Both Humpbacks fluked throughout the encounter and several times we could actually hear the sounds of their spouts!!
Guests onboard were thrilled and SDNHM Whalers congratulated guests on becoming a member of the 1% Club. This is a club where 1% of the population of humans have seen a whale in its natural environment ocean!
What an incredible day for all onboard the Adventure!!
Your naturalists,
Pam & Karen
San Diego Whale Watching: Naturalist Notes – 12/15/24 to 12/16/24