9:00am- We were the first boat out, and so it was up to Capt. Ryan to start things off! The birds have been the give away, and so after we finished our Coastal Tour for the first 30 minutes we headed 3 miles offshore to what has been the “zone”. We found the birds, which led to dolphin, which led to more dolphin, and finally to a humpback and minke whale! The humpback was a smaller one we recognized from yesterday.
11:30am- Went right back to the same area but all the animals had shifted down the coast. Capt Ryan found the dolphins in the binoculars off mid- Laguna Beach. We also got to see our humpback whale again. The dolphins were really spectacular, hundreds in a very tight pod moving up the coast at about 8 mph. At one point they stampeded for us, an uncommon but amazing behavior!
3:00pm- We went the further south on this trip, about 7.5 miles below Newport Beach Harbor. Another fantastic pod of common dolphin, 300+. Then Capt. Larry on the Ocean Explorer radioed us about a humpback whale, one we haven’t seen yet! It found a piece of seaweed and played with it for a few minutes, which was really cool. Then we got to see 3 or 4 tail throws, where the whale launches the rear portion of its body in the air. Finished with some nice close looks including some flukes. Good end to the day!