Our first day with the dolphins! WOW! We left our "new" home at 6:30 and were on the boat at 7am, just as the sun was emerging from behind the San Andreas hills. It was cold and breezy but we were all bundled up. After traveling north for a while we had a false alarm with a sighting of harbor porpoises. With lookouts posted on either side of the boat, a small group of dolphins were finally sighted. They were heading south, traveling symmetrically together. Sometimes it was difficult to follow them due to their varied times underwater. When we were finished photographing the group we headed further south. After searching for quite a while, we were thrilled to sight a group of 30-40 dolphins with approximately 10 calves. They were in various small groups and often swam right next to the boat. All their antics brought cheers of joy and laughter from all of us. When the boat sped up, a number of the dolphins (up to 4) swam under the bow of the boat. From this vantage point we could see their size and markings on their bodies. The young calves sometimes were very small (probably just a few months old) and others jumped right out of the water as they swam with their mothers. Others did a sort of flip when they surfaced to breathe. They were very interactive and appeared as joyful as we were!

Jane Morgan, Team 6