October 19, 2022, Ocean Diary
A couple of weeks ago, I started endeavoring out onto the water with friends and by myself, and I thought it would be beneficial to share some of my observations and experiences offshore. I’m about ten trips in and feel comfortable going 8-10 miles off the coast of San Diego.
As a general precaution, I’ve been sharing my location with people, wearing a life preserver, and tethering myself to the boat. I figure since I’m also flying my drone and picking up balloons, it’s better to have extra assurance that if I fall in, I’ll still be tied in. Let’s hope that never happens. Moving on.
Yesterday was my first day finding a whale on my own as a “captain.” I’ve often seen them from shore in Maui but never by myself on a boat. So, I headed out around 8:30 am from Oceanside Harbor and headed straight for Catalina. As I left the harbor, I noticed an incredibly intimidating military ship. Of course, I steered clear of it. The ocean was a bit windy, and the waves were about 2-3 feet high, rolling in every 7 seconds or so when I started the adventure, and then the water got glassier as the day wore on.
When I was about 8 miles out, I barely noticed something from the corner of my eye. I saw a dark fin, and then part of the body surfaced. I immediately thought of a minke whale because they appear so quickly and dive for quite some time. I cut my motor and waited for it to surface again (that sound in the background is a military amphibious vehicle, by the way). About 10 minutes later, it appeared again to the boat’s left!
Then, on the right of the boat, I heard some water movement and saw two lighter fins circling at the surface, and I thought I had found sharks. So I scrambled to get my drone in the air and realized they were three mola fish right by my boat. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get aerial footage of the Minke but maybe next time.
I hung around with the whale for about 15 minutes and then decided to head south parallel to the coast. Boy, was I glad I did that. I saw two pods of dolphins charging for a colossal bait ball with birds flocking around the scene. Check out the video below to see more of what I encountered. There were dolphins EVERYWHERE, coming in all directions and jumping out of the water. I wondered if there was a whale around, too, with all this action, but I did not spot any. Nevertheless, it was an incredible scene and something I hope never to forget.
After hanging out with them for 20 minutes, I had already been out a few hours and decided to head back near shore. I thought I spotted another balloon in the distance, so I went to collect it and was astonished to find a sea turtle swimming a couple of miles from shore. You can imagine how surprised I was. I’m used to seeing turtles in Hawaii, but they are scarce in this part of San Diego. It was quite a treat.
It was my best day on the water since I started taking myself out, mainly because it was the first time I’d found a whale. Thank you, Minke, dolphins, mola, and sea turtle, for showing this human your beauty, and I hope the four balloons I took out of the water help you. Until next time.
Captain Brenna
