[CINC] IPCO Islander 2/5/11

[Karen Sullivan]

AM 
3 grays
1000+ common dolphins

PM 
2 grays
1000 + common dolphins
150 off shore bottlenose dolphins

Beautiful day, no fog, no wind, no swell, sunshine...

First trip found 3 grays just west of Scorpion, heading south.  2 of them 
consistently fluked, and 1 fluked occasionally.  Short times on the surface, but 
the flukes were cool.
1000+ common dolphins found on the way, spread out, but many played with the 
boat.

Afternoon trip found 2 grays within 2 miles from shore, in about 80 feet of 
water.  They appeared to be unsure which direction to go, as they seemed to keep 
popping up in different areas.   They finally settled down, and appeared to be 
heading south. Capt Anthony suggested they may be young adults on their first 
trip southbound, and not really sure of the terrain.  Anthony then found a large 
group of commons again pretty far east of Anacapa.    This pod had many baby's 
and juveniles, which the first pod didn't seem to have. These were very playful, 
very close to the boats, and more of them surfed the wake than I had seen in a 
long time.

Headed toward Anacapa, and found a group of 5-10 offshore bottlenose hanging 
around.  Cruised the back side of Anacapa and found a larger group of 
bottlenose, 100+.  A group of these began chasing the boat, and treated us to 
some spectacular high breaches and jumps.  I hadn't observed this kind of 
behavior before, in this species.  The passengers were whooping it up, as was 
I.  


2 full boats of people from Asia, Israel, Canada, and many states.  Ohio, Texas, 
North Dakota.  They were basking in our lovely weather.

I was the lone naturalist on both trips, had a great time, but went up and down 
the steps on the boat many many times, so my legs got a good workout.  I hadn't 
been out on the water since October, due to weather, health,  family and work 
concerns, so it was wonderful to have such a great day!


Captain Anthony, Zac and Dee Dee did their excellent job of taking care of the 
crew and giving lots of information to the passengers.

I hadn't been out on the water since October, due to weather, health, family and 
work concerns, so it was wonderful to have such a great day!
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