[CINC] Condor - 6/17/2012

[Kevin Bailey]

Today may have trumped all others!  Not sure it gets any better than today!

 

There are soooo many whales in all directions it  was amazing even for the
several very seasoned whale people and Capt. Beezer said it just does not
get better than this! 

 

Official count to turn in was 11 Blues and 17 Humpbacks but those were just
the ones near us - countless others in the distance.

PID was beyond challenging today - I got PID shots of 27 different whales

Often times there were 4-5-6 whales that swam to us within 100 yards of the
boat with others in all directions

 

We saw a cow calf Blue pair

 

We saw a cow / calf humpback pair and they were the highlight of the day -
the calf breached maybe 20 times !! And close to the boat - Amazing doesn't
even come close to describing it!!

There were flukes by the dozens:

Often we saw pairs and triples of humpback flukes in unison

 

Heard really loud trumpeting - maybe the loudness I have heard.

 

Saw a crazy wild high tail throw with 25% of the body thrown in the air
right in front of the boat!

 

We saw spy-hopping, and chin-slapping, tail lobbing, racing that lead to
breaching.

 

We also saw 300 Commons and sea lions everywhere all day mixed in with the
Humpbacks

 

No wind, no swell, almost flat - sun tried to peak thru and did a few
minutes at the cave 

 

I am still in awe as I know fellow naturalists Toni Bailey and Bruce
Matthews are too

 

Kevin Bailey

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