Full day today! 9:00am started with PLENTY of Common Dolphin about 2 miles off Newport Beach; it was a feeding frenzy with pelicans, terns, and shearwaters everywhere. We then went close to shore to find gray whales. We found a cow/calf pair and a single! There were to be our only whales for the day however. 11:30am and 3:00pm trips found plenty of dolphin, just like the morning. Our highlight on the 3:00pm trip however was the sea otter we saw at Crystal Cove! Sea Otters are on the Endangered Species List and their population in California is only around 3,000 animals, down 80% from 15,000 before the fur trade, which ended in 1911. All of the otters in California today are descended from a single colony of about 50 animals discovered in 1938 that escaped extinction. So they are very special to see, certainly in southern California they are considered rare! 