A beautiful sunrise and early wake-up call found us at Isla San Jose. Some of us ventured ashore before breakfast and were treated to the beautiful landscape under the changing morning light. After breakfast we had more time to explore the island—lizards darted underfoot, hummingbirds zipped through the air, and the soft curves of the sandstone cliffs lined our path along the arroyo.
Jack Swenson started our afternoon with some tips about photographing dolphins and, as if on cue, the dolphins arrived to test our skills. We cruised with a large group of bottlenose dolphins and a few of them entertained us with acrobatic flips and impressive launches out of the water.
After some quality dolphin-watching time, we managed to cross paths with a pod of killer whales! The bow was filled with the sounds of shutters clicking and passengers rejoicing as the killer whales gave us wonderful views. The rest of the afternoon was a flutter of shutters because after the killer whales came the pilot whales. And then a few more pilot whales. Then we were treated to a rare sighting as a couple of Risso’s dolphins joined the pilot whales. We couldn’t drag ourselves away from all the wonderful marine mammals so we detoured from our original plans for the day and let the whales set our course. At the end of the day we watched the sun set against a backdrop of rocky shores and calm seas and the graceful backs of pilot whales.
