9:00am-Our Zodiac was the first boat out this morning, and Capt. Ryan decided to start with a coastal tour and then look off Laguna Beach for animals. It was a beautiful morning for our two passengers from Long Beach, CA. After looking at the coastline, Capt. Ryan spotted tons of bird life a few miles offshore. We headed that direction and were rewarded with 2 humpback whales, 1 minke whale, and about 300 common dolphin all feeding! This was in about 2,000 feet of water 4 miles off Laguna Beach. We called in the Dana Point whale watchers and headed for home in some really nice seas.
3:00pm- No 11:30am trip was scheduled, so next up was our 3:00pm departure. It was reported to us that one of the large humpback whales, nicknamed “Scarlett”, was on her way up to Newport. Captain Ryan found her at 6 miles from the harbor resting. We got some really close looks at this friendly whale. It was getting windy so we took shelter moving downswell towards Laguna Beach to try and find some dolphin. And boy, did we find some! A pod of at least 500 short-beaked common dolphin feeding with shearwaters. Everyone on board got to enjoy these playful bow-riders. A great end to the day.