Dolphins in Monterey 5/30/25
These were taken on board the Blue Ocean Whale Watch. For now I’m just posting the dolphin shots. When I finish with the whales I’ll post them. The three dolphin species we saw were: Risso’s Dolphins, Northern Right Whale Dolphins and Pacific White-sided Dolphins. We were dealing with fog a lot of the day, but we managed to get some relatively clear periods when the dolphins were around. Dolphins in general are often a challenge, but this day the Risso’s Dolphins really ratcheted things up. They were moving very fast and were often not moving in predictable ways. Sometimes I’d get lucky and could see through the water well enough to see the white/light and could at least partially predict where they might be coming up. But the boat was also moving pretty quickly in moderate seas, which added to the challenge. Some of my sequences (which I’m not posting) are pretty amusing - in one shot the dolphin would be cut off at the top, then the next shot cut off at the bottom, then it’s centered but the head is cut off.
I was pretty excited to get some shots of the Northern Right Whale Dolphins. This is the first time I’ve gotten photos of them. They’re a bit unusual looking since they don’t have a dorsal fin. When you first see them, you might think you’re looking at a large sea lion or something.
The shots of the Pacific White-sided dolphin where the dolphin was underwater came out a lot better than I expected and I really like them.
