Surrounded by a large pod of common dolphins, passengers aboard the Manute’a, our whale watching catamaran, experienced a thrilling adventure when the dolphins suddenly began stampeding through the water.
A stampede occurs when a pod of dolphins begin porpoising out of the water at a very high rate of speed. The dolphins are not scared of the boat. Dolphin stampedes can happen without warning or provocation. As such, visitors to Dana Point can witness this breathtaking behavior at any time, throughout the year.
Although the exact reason why dolphins will suddenly stampede is unclear, it is known that porpoising is the fastest mode of travel for dolphins, because there is less resistance in air than water. It is thought that stampeding dolphins may be racing to catch a food source or maybe to meet up with another pod of dolphins.
Southern California has the greatest density of dolphins per square mile of anywhere else on earth. This includes nearly 450,000 common dolphins, the species in this video, as well as several other species of dolphin. Dana Point is one of the best places in the world to see large mega-pods that can number in herds of up to 10,000.
Filmed by Grayden Fanning and Mark Tyson
Music by Epidemic Sound (http://www.epidemicsound.com)
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Captain Dave's Dolphin and Whale Watching Safari offers daily, year-round, dolphin and whale watching trips from Dana Point, California, aboard a hi-tech catamaran sailboat with Eye-to-Eye Underwater Viewing Pods.
Tel: (949) 488-2828
Web: https://www.dolphinsafari.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CaptDavesWhaleWatching
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/captdaveswhalewatching/
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Dolphin and whale footage is copyright David Anderson/DolphinSafari.com and may not be used without permission.