While the storms have interrupted my typical dive schedule, we’ve had some awesome local phenomenons to distract me. First off, it’s harbor seal pupping season! The Children’s Pool in La Jolla closes from December 15 – May 15 to give these expectant mothers to be a peaceful place to push out pups! The Children’s Pool has viewing platforms for you to be able to watch the lazy day of a pregnant harbor seal, catch pups learning how to move across the sand and perfect their balloon bounce, or maybe watch a seal swim lesson. If you’re really lucky, you might even witness a harbor seal birth! And it’s as beautiful as it is gross. That’s my disclaimer. The 2024 pups are well on their way. The SD Seal Society chooses a theme each year to name the pups. This year is bird names. As of right now, there are 5 new pups! The first additions to the 2024 pups are Robin, Zazu, Sandy Sanderling, I’iwi, & Hummer. Will be posting updates on new pup births on Instagram, so follow along! All the photos and video were taken from the viewing platform with a telephoto lens. Please view respectfully!
Now this next encounter blew my mind. I can’t believe how lucky I was to be down on the shore in La Jolla that fateful Sunday. I was out early watching the harbor seals, but they rudely just wanted to nap instead of pop out cute babies. So I wandered over to the surfing sea lions at Boomers to take some photos. I saw some fins in the distance near the pier that I assumed were dolphins so I put the drone up. One of my photo buddies then said, “Hey Jami, there’s a large dorsal fin here, it’s probably a large common dolph– HOLY $H*+ IT’S AN ORCA.” There were ORCAS right off Boomers beach! I still can’t believe it! And then began the frantic drone search to catch some aerial views and ultimately a car chase down the coast to Windansea where the orcas were hunting dolphins just a mile offshore! I managed to get some drone footage before they headed south, but wow, what a thrilling encounter! And one I would have never guessed I would see from the shore in La Jolla!
Hoping to get some dives in as this next swell dies down, more reports coming soon!
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