This morning, we celebrated the addition of 18 new volunteer whale naturalists from the San Diego Natural History Museum who will be docent naturalists on board many of the Whale Watching Cruises.

Today was our first whale-watching cruise of the Winter Season for City Cruises. Reasonably calm seas with no whitecaps and overcast skies allowed us to clearly observe approximately 500 common dolphins in our waters offshore. The conditions provided amazingly clear water to see the markings of these dolphins with white undersides and distinctive coloration. There was a great deal of play with the dolphins jumping and exhibiting mating behavior. The perspective of looking down to observe such a large group of dolphins was exceptional.

Additionally, we observed a blow from a whale in the distance, and our captain allowed us to get closer without disturbing this animal. The whale was an adult humpback whale that stayed in the area for enough time to observe a few sequences of exhaling before taking a deeper dive. As we prepared to depart this sighting, we were able to see the flukes of the whale.