2022. 9. 24.

Today, I joined Jim, Heidi, and Mike and headed out to the ocean off San Diego for a wildlife tour. We left the dock in the morning around 7:30. The ocean under the overcast sky was smooth. We were a few miles off the coast and first headed north, hoping to see some whales, but everywhere we looked seemed quiet. Then on the horizon, was saw the gathering of sea birds, an indication of a bait ball feeding frenzy. As we got closer to the center of the action, a huge pod of dolphins showed up, heading to the same direction. Soon, more birds were joining from all directions and the number of dolphins seemed to grow fast. The water started to boil around us. I have been seen a few dolphin-runs on Jim’s boat, but this one was the largest. We followed the action for a good two hours and decided to head south to the seven-mile bank.

As we left the dolphin run, a mink whale showed up, for just for a blink of eye. It disappeared quickly. On the way south, we were looking for kelp patties for the abundant marine life beneath it. We came across a few drifting kelp bundles and then spotted a large patty. It was the size of a picnic table. We didn’t see big animals under it but found schools of small finish. There we decided to take break and jumped into the water. The water was 70 F and felt warm.

 Before we were ready to continue our trip south, Mike spotted something like a shark dorsal fin not far from the patty. We were excited. When we got close, we realized it was a large mola casually swimming on the surface. As we approached, the mola did not go away. Instead, it stayed close to the boat without evening moving. It turned around looking at the boat curiously. We were able to get very close to it. As we were ready to leave the mola, another mink whale showed up. Like the first, it disappeared quickly.

From there, we toured around an area near the 7-mile bank. By this time, the breeze picked up and the ocean turned choppy with some white caps. Under the bright sunshine, we headed back to the dock.