[CINC] Condor Express June 12

[Pam Yerger]

What a day we had with Captain Matt and crew.  We had about 50 passengers from Eastern Europe, Arizona, Ohio, Georgia, Colorado and California.  One 5 year old boy was smart enough to be an honorary member of the CINC!!  Finally when he said he didn't know much about humpbacks I felt like a winner on the program ARE YOU SMARTER THAN A 5 YEAR OLD?!!
We had calm seas with full cloud cover until the end of the trip when the sun peeked out.  We saw about 10 bottlenose dolphins while leaving the harbor and soon were surrounded by approximately 800 to 1000 common dolphins swimming right next to the boat and well off into the distance.  We watched for awhile and then headed out towards the west end of Santa Cruz where we could see numerous blows in the distance.  We really had our pick of whales to watch...about 27 humpbacks showing off for us and 9 blue whales, 2 or 3 of which actually showed us tail flukes.  And the prize was a full breaching humpback literally rolling in the air.
If that wasn't enough we saw a baby sea lion at the entrance to painted cave and a very large purple jelly.
To say that passengers got their money's worth today is an understatement!
Thanks to other naturalists, Catherine French and Don Gilles PID.
Pam Yergerhumpback pod 2011 new graduate

 		 	   		  
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