Pod of Dolphins Spotted in Waters Off Carlsbad State Beach

A witness recorded the encounter with the family of dolphins

A pod of dolphins was spotted off the coast of Carlsbad Thursday, according to one viewer who caught the family of mammals on video.

Jeremy Wittig heads out to South Carlsbad State Beach every other week to try and capture some of San Diego's marine wildlife in action. On Thursday, he hit the jackpot, or "jack-pod": he estimated he saw about 50 dolphins splashing around in the water.

Wittig camps out along Canyon De Las Encinas near Tower 28 and sends his drone out half a mile into the Pacific Ocean, he told NBC 7.

In one of his clips, roughly a dozen dolphins were seen swimming in the waters off the coast, some in pairs of two and four. Wittig said he saw a lot more later.

The pod was swimming toward the palm tree-cladded coastline at around 8:30 a.m. Thursday.

Wittig said recent misty weather and choppy waves had made it difficult for him to spot animals, but the ocean was “peaceful and serine” Thursday, which Wittig said was the most shocking part of the morning.

It was the first time all summer he saw such a large pod of dolphins, Wittig said.

Wittig is originally from Hawaii but moved to San Diego seven years ago.

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