A “super pod” of more than 1,500 dolphins was filmed jumping and gliding off the coast of California, with the unusual sight stretching for miles across the horizon on Friday morning.
Captain Evan Brodsky, with the Monterey Bay Whale Watch, spotted the huge gathering of Risso’s dolphins in Carmel Bay and said he was “blown away.”
“It was amazing,” Brodsky said. “We were out there on the ocean every day and, you know, all of us were taking pictures.”
Brodsky and a small team, including marine biologist Colleen Talty, were aboard a 20-foot inflatable boat searching for gray whales when the dolphins began to leap out of the bay.
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Talty said some dolphins were even swimming at the front of the boat and using the waves to propel them forward, a technique known as bow riding.
“They were breaching everywhere, spy-hopping, tail-slapping, coming right over to the boat,” she said.
Talty added: “It just looked like they were having a big party, socializing with each other.”
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Such a large group of adult and juvenile dolphins was likely the result of several pods coming together as they swam south, according to Talty.
Risso’s dolphins, which can weigh as much as 1,100 pounds and reach as long as 13 feet, typically travel in groups of 10 to 30 animals, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The Monterey coastline is a particularly ideal place to spot them because they prefer extremely deep water. The area’s underwater submarine canyon means they may swim much closer to shore than in other parts of California, said Talty.
While it wasn’t the first time the Brodsky and Talty have seen a group of dolphins this large, they said such a sight is a rare occurrence.
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“It was a really memorable encounter that I won’t forget for a long time,” Brodsky said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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