[CINC] SUNDAY JULY 15TH on the CX

[Vivi Teston]

It was an awesome day @ Sea with passengers from India, Israel , Germany
other parts of the US & Local SB fans as well. Morgan Coffey on PID gave a
brilliant Intro to passengers upstairs with a plethora of Info for them to
absorb. Laura Shelton buzzed around the boat like a happy bee extolling her
knowledge of whales/dolphins & bird life( even in some obscure part of
Oklahoma.! ) :)

Capt Dave at the helm with his usual brilliant  commentary & calm demeanor
, Skipper Dennis , awesome as well & Matt in the galley.

Conditions were over cast per norm , but once out on the ledge Capt. Dave
maneuvered the boat beautifully sitting us right amongst lots & lots of
spouts near the boat & as far as the eye could see. Many , many humpbacks
happily feeding, tail flukes , LOTS of vocalization at times,whale breath &
in particular that young barnacle clad juvenile who kept mugging the boat
for a bit was quite vocal. And of course there were the Blues that showed
up & even graced up with some of their sideways flukes.One pair on the
right of the bow and another pair on the left. You weren't quite sure which
side to move to .. so I kind of felt like Tom Hanks in Splash when he was
waiting for the elevator doors to Open ..not knowing which one would open
first yet poised and ready to leap to that side. Just as we were turning to
head to painted Cave more humpbacks surfaced all of a sudden, I believe I
counted 7-8 .to the right..swimming almost in formation , logging close
together & one off to the left of the bow..It was beautiful , one by one
tail fluke showing their individual beauty for Morgan to try & capture on
film . And of course then there were the many pods of dolphins with lots of
babies encountered throughout the day .And one of my favorites as we headed
toward Painted Cave & were cruising alongside Santa Cruz was the Bald Eagle
that flew over head & landed , welcoming us to the Island.All in all &
spectacular day at sea.. Thanks to the CX..it's crew ,Morgan & Laura & the
many interested passengers that make it possible to keep returning to the
ledge.

Vivi Teston
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