SAN DIEGO — The Pacific Ocean isn't just a thing of beauty, it's a vital part of our county's ecosystem. I went miles offshore to check out the marine life that call it home and hoped to spot a whale with San Diego Whale Watch.
On a foggy Friday morning in October, it was time to load up the boat and get ready for an excursion on the Privateer. And even though the company is called San Diego Whale Watch, the sights out on the water offer a bit of variety including dolphins, sharks, sea turtles and jellyfish, just to name a few, along with whale sightings.
"This time of the year, Long Beak Common Dolphin. We could see that any day of the year. Right now, during the Fall, we could see Humpback Whales, Fin Whales, Buddha's Whale, Minke Whales, and we had a Blue Whale on Tuesday. So, there's a lot going on during the Fall," explained Ryan Jones, a Naturalist and one of the Captains for the company.
Captain Bryan McGrory was our captain for the day. He took us miles from this harbor in Mission Bay as Captain Jones narrated our journey along the way.
It didn't take long before we started seeing marine mammals like California Sea Lions as we departed and birds along our hazy journey.
Once we exited the Quivira Basin, it was time to head northwest and venture out on the open water. We had one-to-two-foot swells and reduced visibility from a shallow marine layer. I got excited when I thought I spotted something in the water, but it was just a buoy.
Apparently, it's a common mistake, and they are rather abundant from roughly late September through early March for California Spiny Lobster season. But we are in good hands because Bryan and Ryan know what to look for.
"You can see everything is just blue and rippley. But if you see like a white splash, something had to do that, so they could be dolphins. They could be just some bird diving into the water," said Jones.
Thankfully, the fog started to lift. As the visibility gradually improved, we spotted pelicans and sheer water birds before a brief encounter with a couple of Long-beaked Common Dolphins.
We went six miles offshore where the water is over 16,000 feet deep in the middle of the La Jolla Canyon. Still searching for whales on our journey, we spotted the Ocean Sunfish. They are known for being the world's largest bony fish based on weight. Ryan also mentioned that they eat jellyfish.
Unfortunately, we also found a few colorful helium filled mylar balloons in the open water.
"We see lots of heart balloons after Valentine's Day," explained Jones.
With their bright colors and attached ribbons, they can be mistaken for jellies and ingested by marine life like the Ocean Sunfish. The San Diego Whale Watch crew is doing their part to combat this pollutant by removing the ones they see on each trip.
Well, you're probably curious if we saw a whale? Unfortunately, no. Each excursion is different, which is part of the fun. And did you know you can go whale watching any time of the year?
"If you want to see Gray Whales, December to April. If you want to see Blue Whales, throughout the summertime, June is a great month for Blue Whales," said Jones.
And sometimes, you can experience a rare sighting like a Whale Shark.
"Super rare sighting in San Diego. Last one seen in San Diego was 2015, as far as I'm aware, and we saw one on Labor Day 2022. That's when the ocean temperatures here in San Diego are at their height. So, water is exceptionally warm and that just brought up a tropical animal into our waters," explained Jones.
Even though we didn't see any sharks or whales on our adventure, this pod of Bottlenose Dolphins gave us a show on our way back to land.
You know what's really cool? We were the only whale watching crew out on the water to see them that day. Now it's your turn to come out and see what you find.
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