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Gray whale watching is still at its peak with multiple Gray Whales spotted on each cruise. Most of the whales are still migrating south. We are also still seeing mother-calf pairs, along with groups of whales exhibiting courtship behavior. Since the season started, we’ve spotted a total of 342 Gray Whales (including 15 cow-calf pairs), 3 Humpback Whales, 2 Fin Whales, 1 Pygmy Sperm Whale and thousands of dolphins. View our sightings report at https://sandiegowhalewatching.com/.
January 29, 2020
Morning Cruise
Sightings: n/a
Whale Watching Cancelled due to high sea swells.
Afternoon Cruise
Sightings: n/a
Whale Watching Cancelled due to high sea swells.
January 30, 2020
Morning Cruise
Sightings: 5 Gray Whales
We observed 5 Gray whales southbound in 3 groups. Visitors from Canada and Germany joined us for the cruise. It was a beautiful sunny morning.
Afternoon Cruise
Sightings: 13 Gray Whales, 200+ Common Dolphins, 25 Pacific White-sided Dolphins
The Adventure Hornblower sailed out southward under a bit of a breeze and a slightly hazy sky. We quickly came across a single Eastern North Pacific Gray Whale as it was crossing the shipping lane and headed toward the Los Coronado Islands pathway to the lagoons of Baja California, Mexico. We observed a few spouts and a couple of flukes from this Gray, however, Captain Rick decided to sail north in search of a few more Grays a couple of miles ahead. Within minutes of our turning in a northerly direction and just outside of our Kelp Forest near Point Loma we saw 2 spouts. The Adventure headed over to get a sighting and what a delight to see 2 large Grays continuing their journey south. Captain Rick was contacted by another whaling boat also out in the area and learned that there were 3 adult Grays exhibiting mating behavior along with a playful pod of about 25 Pacific White-sided dolphins, so we head towards the action. Guests were delighted to observe the behaviors of the mixture of dolphins and Grays. Within a few moments one of the Whale Naturalists observe 3 more spouts about 1/2 mile away and Captain Rick decided to investigate this group and we observe their behavior for a while. Another sighting of a lot of spouting caught our attention and we headed further out about 2 miles off of Point Loma. Wowie!! We located 4 adult Grays that seem to swim in unison and spout frequently also heading south. Along with this sighting a pod of 200+ Common Dolphins joined us, and guests were over the moon with excitement. As our time was running out, Captain Rick headed the Adventure back and another Gray was sighted about a quarter of a mile just outside of the entry to the bay. Many guests aboard stated that This by far was “The Best Whale Watching Company and Experience Ever!” Hats off to Captain Rick, 1st Mate Jayden, Crew members, Jarred and Daphne and Whale Naturalists Dee, Jack and Pam for all they do to make Whale Watching on the Hornblower Awesome!
January 31, 2020
Morning Cruise
Sightings: 7 Gray Whales, 50+ Common Dolphins
Our morning was filled with whale watching including a sighting of a Mother-calf pair of Gray Whales. We also enjoyed watching a herd of Common Dolphins.
Afternoon Cruise
Sightings: 9 Gray Whales, 3 Bottlenose Dolphins
We spotted 9 Gray Whales along with a few Common Bottlenose Dolphins in the bay.
February 1, 2020
Morning Cruise
Sightings: 6 Gray Whales
Another beautiful day on the water with sunny skies and calm waters. We saw 3 pairs of Gray Whales, including a mother and calf pair! The third pair of adult whales gave us several big blows and double flukes! We saw a few California Sea Lions as well off shore. We had passengers from international locations such as France, and all areas of the US.
Afternoon Cruise
Sightings: 5 Gray Whales, 3 Common Dolphins
A gorgeous afternoon on the water, with clear skies, mild wind, smooth water and warm temperatures. Straight out of the channel markers we saw three Common Dolphins. Then we saw one juvenile Gray Whale snorkeling just below the surface. We followed this whale for about 20 minutes. We saw four more Gray Whales, and the last one showed us an amazing fluke, quite close to the boat. We had passengers from China, and Mexico, as well as from many States here in the US- Florida, Colorado, Missouri, and Michigan among them.
February 2, 2020
Morning Cruise
Sightings: 3 Gray Whales, 50+ Common Dolphins, 15 Pacific White-sided Dolphins, 4 Bottlenose Dolphins
We first spotted a few Bottlenose Dolphins in the harbor. Outside of the bay, we spotted 5 southbound Gray Whales along with a mixed group of Common Dolphins and Pacific White-sided Dolphins.
Afternoon Cruise
Sightings: 5 Gray Whales, 400+ Common Dolphins
We spotted 4 adult Gray Whales and 1 juvenile. We spent several minutes watching a group of 3 whales spout and fluke. We also spotted a whale breaching in the distance a few times. We rounded out our afternoon watching a large group of Common Dolphins frolicking around the boat.
February 3, 2020
Morning Cruise
Sightings: n/a
Cruises cancelled due to high sea swells.
Afternoon Cruise
Sightings: n/a
Cruises cancelled due to high sea swells.
February 4, 2020
Morning Cruise
Sightings: 2 Gray Whales
It was a lovely sunny day on the water, viewing 2 juvenile Gray whales travelling South. Water conditions allowed us to see the beautiful turquoise blue of the whales below the surface.
Afternoon Cruise
Sightings: 5 Gray Whales
A very nice day, lots of sun and beautiful blue water. We saw about 5 Gray whales, mostly adults and one juvenile. Lots of amazing and curious guests including the members of “I love a clean San Diego”.
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