A miles-long cluster of dolphins has been filmed leaping and gliding across Carmel Bay off the central coast of California, forming an unusual “super pod” of more than 1,500 of the marine creatures.
“They were on the horizon I feel like as far as I could see,” said Captain Evan Brodsky, with the Monterey Bay Whale Watch, who captured drone footage of Friday’s huge gathering of Risso’s dolphins.
The sighting was rare: Risso’s dolphins typically travel in groups of only 10 to 30 animals, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
From a 20-foot inflatable boat, Brodsky and a small team out searching for Gray whales watched mesmerized as the dolphins jumped out of the bay, peeking around as they leaped in the air. This type of dolphin with its stocky body and bulbous head can weigh as much as 1,100 pounds and reach up to 13 feet long.
Colleen Talty, a marine biologist on the trip to track the annual migration of Gray whales headed to breeding lagoons off Mexico’s Baja California coast, called it “pretty amazing” to see more than 1,500 dolphins cavorting all around their boat.
Some, she said, were even swimming at the front of the vessel and using the waves to propel them forward, a technique known as bow riding.
“They were just having a great time. So they were breaching everywhere … tail slapping, coming right over to the boat. They looked like they were having a big party,” she said.
