March 12, 2020
By Todd Mansur Captain / Marine Naturalist
Kinoshita Elementary/ Mrs. Van’s / 92 Students
Today’s trip departed early. As the students arrived at 9:30 am we immediately boarded them to get them out of the light rain. Departing at 9:35.
The weather was calm winds with light rain. At 9:51 we had our first whale sighting. This couldn’t have worked out better. In 90 feet of water just 1 mile north of Dana point we had 3 northbound Gray whales. It was hard to identify for certain but we think one of the three was a calf.
The 3 whales made for an exciting show for the students as they came up to breathe and frequently showed their tail flukes before making a dive. We followed them at 4.4 knots until 10:40.
At 10:45 we spotted a pod of offshore Bottlenose Dolphin. What an added extra to an already great trip. The Dolphins were traveling North up the coast at 5 knots in 100 fathoms of water 4 miles off Dana Point. There were approximately 45 animals in the pod. After watching them play next to the boat and surf our wake we decided to head back.
11:20 Arrive back To Dana Point Harbor.
Total sightings
- 3 Gray Whales
- 45 Bottlenose Dolphins