A ‘Gone Whale Watching’ spotted an estimated 100 pilot whales – the first documented sighting in San Diego since 2017.

SAN DIEGO — A local whale watching company is calling it a “once-in-a-lifetime sighting” after spotting a super-pod of over 100 shortfin pilot whales off the coast of San Diego on a tour that departed from Mission Bay. The rare encounter occurred while passengers were initially seeking orcas, which had been sighted the previous day.



This story continues below.


More in Animals









Rare two-headed baby turtle found











Memorial unveiled in Big Bear for “Jackie the Bald Eagle”




Nicole Schriber, a deckhand naturalist for Gone Whale Watching who holds a master’s degree in marine biology from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, described the astonishing moment. “We just stumbled across them. We were looking for the orcas. I saw some spouts out, and there were a lot of them. So at first, I was like, ‘Oh, that might be the orcas,’ and then I saw that’s way too many spouts to be orcas,” Schriber said. 

This was the first time Schriber had seen pilot whales in the wild. “It was just kind of a mind-blowing moment. Like, this is really happening. There are actually pilot whales here off San Diego,” she added.

Captain Jessica Aubry, who also experienced the sighting for the first time, expressed her excitement. “It was so surreal. Everybody was freaking out. We never expected to see pilot whales, so of course Nicole and I were also freaking out, which just made everybody else even more excited for the sighting.”

As Captain Aubry maneuvered the boat, Schreiber captured video footage of the whales playing and diving for food, as they interacted with Pacific white-sided dolphins. Unlike other whale species that prey on dolphins, pilot whales prefer squid in deeper waters.

The remarkable sighting occurred 20 miles southwest of Mission Bay, near the Mexico border. Pilot whales are typically found in the Sea of Cortez. The last documented sighting in San Diego happened in 2017, but experts believe warmer waters amid a powerful El Niño could lead to more tropical sightings in the coming months. “We expect to see a lot more rare tropical sightings throughout this winter and into the next year, including hopefully more sightings of our eastern tropical Pacific killer whales and possibly even more pilot whale sightings,” Schriber said.