“Look deep into nature and you will understand everything better.”
-Albert Einstein
Last Friday I arrived in San Diego for the first of two trips I have there in March. As soon as I saw them on my roster last month, I was so excited to be going back and I knew exactly what I was planning to do which was to go whale and dolphin watching. I began by following some companies that specialised in the trips to see which would be the best and also researched a bit about the whales as there I discovered there are two major seasons in San Diego. The migration of the Grey Whales pass through from November – May and then May through to October is the Blue Whale season although humpback whales, dolphins, orca whales, seals and sea lions are apparently year round.
Where I was staying was literally across the road from The Port of San Diego so there was so much to do but I thought it would be easier just to go and get some face to face information on the trips. I found out that last month would have been the best time to see the whales but I decided I still wanted to go out on the boat and look anyway and booked for the day after.
I was at the boat for 9am Sunday morning as it set sail at 09.30. Once on board, you sail for around an hour until you get into the Pacific Ocean towards Mexico. The trip has marine experts on so you get to find out more about the area and the wildlife of San Diego. Everyone was looking out for the whales but as the migrating season was coming to a close, it wasn’t so easy to spot them until one was spotted to the right of the boat(I think that was the 2 o clock position?). However, by the time everyone had made their way over, the whale had gone back down into the ocean. The guide expert explained that the whales go back down for normally around 7 minutes to feed but can stay down for up to 20 minutes. I’ll be honest, I was that excited that one had been spotted, I completely missed what kind of whale it was. The boat then stopped to make sure everything was calm for the whales. After 7 minutes, there was no sight of the whale so I thought I’d missed my viewing chance.
By this time though, the dolphins had appeared and that was me absolutely thrilled then as I’ve always been obsessed with dolphins so forgot about the whales for the moment. They were coming 2 at a time, just so fast and elegant with that permanently happy look then jumping out of the ocean and diving back down into the ocean. I was lucky enough to swim with them in the Ocean in Mexico about 9 years ago so to see them again but just in the middle of the Pacific, well I was like an excitable child.
The only way I can describe it was like a Marine Broadway Show. The Whale was the star who had made an appearance, the dolphins were the happy, dancing cheerleaders doing a warm up act for it before it came back for its encore and then there was me, lucky enough to be in the audience (In the middle of the Pacific) watching it…….Not long after this, a whale was spotted to the left of the boat now(11 o clock position) so I made my way over to that side of the boat. This time I was lucky just to see it before it headed back down deep in the ocean. I did this trip on my own as although it is always fun to activities with others, I think there are just moments when you need to be by yourself to take it all in. I’ve always had a soft spot for the sea/ocean/coast and it’s somewhere I sometimes like to be myself and just feel the peace and calm and my Sunday in San Diego was just one of the best days I’ve had.
The trip I went on was with Flagship Cruise & Events. The trip should have cost $50 for an adult(concessions available also) but It was fortunate that I didn’t book anything prior to getting to San Diego as I found a deal on Groupon which only cost me €31 so a saving of almost $20 but worth every penny(dollar).
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