[CINC] CX Whale watching Sunday 5/22/11

[Rae Emmett]

Mini report from me... five young fellows, two of whom, are mine, hit their stand up paddle boards yesterday for a jaunt from Jalama to Bullito at Hollister Ranch which is just North of  Gaviota State Park. Epic, as one might expect, but a great adventure. But want to report they saw a Grey...probably a juvenile... barnacles, curious, taking it's time etc. Liked that critter way more than the shark.....xor
On May 22, 2011, at 9:05 PM, Maria G. Ornelas wrote:

> Hi Naturalists,
> 
> 4 Blue whales
> 1 Humpback
> ~ 2000 - 2500 Common dolphins
> ~20 Pacific white-sided dolphins
> Many small groups of California Sea lions
> 84 passengers
> Crew: Cptn. Dave, wife Cathy, Dennis
> CINC: Dino Dal Bon (PID), Ken Tatro, Maria Ornelas
> 
> 
> Captain Dave and crew, as reliable as ever, arranged the presence of the noted marine life. Countries represented among the passengers were: U.S. Germany, India, France, Holland, Sweden, and others. It was a most exciting day, with scattered groups of sea lions. All Blues and the Humpback were encountered/sighted East of SCI. The first one was moving slowly, feeding just under the surface. We could hear her/his exhalation and see the length of its massive body as it started his dives, but without lifting its tail. It was a spectacular sight all the same. We stayed with him for a few diving cycles and enjoyed seeing the white-sided dolphins "play? = share food" with this whale. One of the tiny dolphins slid across the huge whale, to everyone's delight. The second Blue was was swimming with a purpose and launched powerfully, thus increasing its speed. We followed for a while. Dave then treated us by riding along SCI, many passengers were clicking away. Today's was a bumpy trip (a few nauseous people, myself included), maybe a Beaufort of ~ 4-5. A true privilege to bear witness today out in the Channel.
> 
> Maria G. Ornelas
> maria at rasnowpeak.com
> 
>          \ /                      \ / 
> ´¯'·.¸¸..><((((º>.·´¯'·.¸¸.·´¯'·.¸><((({º>¸.·´¯'·.¸. ,. 
>          / \                      / \
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Channel_islands_naturalist_corps mailing list
> Channel_islands_naturalist_corps at rain.org
> http://www.rain.org/mailman/listinfo/channel_islands_naturalist_corps

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://www.rain.org/pipermail/channel_islands_naturalist_corps/attachments/20110522/94818dea/attachment-0001.html>