Dolphin video recorded off the coast of San Diego

SAN DIEGO — A San Diego-based whale watching company reports that conditions off the coast of San Diego are so good that they're seeing an influx of sharks and dolphins. Gone Whale Watching has released videos of their recent encounters that have generated millions of views, one in particular showing dolphins jumping out of the water right next to their boat.

“You know, when these things rise higher than the wheelhouse, it's just spectacular,” said Erica Sackrison.

Sackrison was the photographer on board a Gone Whale Watching tour last week when she and everyone else on board noticed a pod of bottlenose dolphins.

“You could just see her jumping 20 feet in the air, and everyone on the boat started pointing at her, and I thought, 'Where is everyone looking?' It almost feels like they're doing Olympic jumps, like they're all trying to be like Simone Biles and just touch the sky and come down. It was awesome,” Sackrison said.

Sackrison's videos are frequently posted on Gone Whale Watching's Instagram page, and the video of the pod of dolphins has been viewed over seven million times in just one week.

On the day the photo was taken, she said the boat encountered huge pods every few miles just off the coast of Mission Bay.

According to Domenic Biagini, founder of Gone Whale Watching, there are several reasons for this: First of all, there is plenty of food.

“Anchovies are a very, very popular food source, especially for the common dolphins. But we've also been seeing more and more bottlenose dolphins, and the bottlenose dolphins are the ones you see in those spectacular videos jumping in the air. And when we often see so many bottlenose dolphins here, it's because there are a lot of squid in the waters off San Diego. So we're most likely having an influx of squid right now,” Biagini said.

Biagini says he saw lots of sharks in addition to dolphins. He puts this down to the sunny skies and calmer waters, which made for much better visibility.

Biagini took a video of a great white shark just a few days ago and said it was only the second time he had seen one so far from shore.

“I see them all the time in coastal waters, but it's very rare to actually see a great white shark offshore,” Biagini said.

Due to the optimal conditions and the increasing number of sightings, Biagini has included so-called “trips to the great white shark” in his tour schedule.

He warns that other boaters planning to do the same thing, depending on where you are, should be extra cautious by driving slowly and revving your engines if possible.

“When you're in our very, very shallow coastal waters here, it's really critical to keep your speed down because you never know what might be just beneath the surface,” Biagini said.

According to Biagini, this not only increases the chances of seeing something spectacular, but also protects everything from damage.

See also: SeaWorld gives Rady Children's kids the chance to swim with dolphins (September 18, 2023)