[CINC] CX-3/4/2012-Oo what a day!

[Dino Dal Bon]

9:00 am
About 25 Commons with about 5 calves
Total 9 Orcas!
My wife thinks I’m a nut when I leave the house, just after
doing a 5-second “Orca Dance”-It worked! Morning trip started with Capt. Dave getting
us on the small pod of Commons, very playful, the clarity in the water was
amazing. After about 10 minutes we ventured to coordinates where Dave got a
call earlier in the morning about a humpback. After searching, and finding
nothing, we went further West to see about the potential for another Humpback
site. Meanwhile, Dave kept in contact with the Grey whale count folks on shore
and we were just about to turn, when Dennis, Dave and I saw a splash up ahead,
we thought it was a Humpy being playful. As we neared…we saw the 7 beautiful
black fins…there you go! The whole boat was roaring with excitement. It turned
out that there were 5 adult females and 2 calves (maybe a yearling, if there is
such a distinction with Orcas). Either way, they were staying close to their
moms. They were very friendly for sure.
After staying with them for a while, and on our way back, we
saw the male with another female about ¼ mile from the other pod. Stayed
briefly with them, and came back for the noon trip.
I went overboard with PID pics, oops!
Noon trip
3 Greys
12 Dalls
The same Orcas...and some more?
Capt. Dave had a friend of his on a private boat see if he
could find the Oo pod. As the second wave of guests came on board, they were
hearing from the morning folks that we saw Orcas. We had to set expectations
that we would most likely not see them again. Meanwhile, about ¾ mile offshore
of Hope Ranch, we saw a grey whale spout, but it ditched us. Then we came
across about a dozen Dall’s, and stayed with them about 10 minutes. Then Dave
got a call from Michael Smith guiding him to two greys just of Isla Vista.  Sure
enough, they gave us a good show. While on the greys, Dave got a call from his
friend…WE HAVE ORCAS!....
They moved about 6 miles from the morning, but we found
them. It was the same pod, they were moving a bit faster, but we stayed with
them for about 30 minutes…I took more PID pics, I thought there were more
individuals this time…1 or 2. Before leaving them, the male and female couple finally joined with their pod and all of them came up at the same time to bid us farewell. We got in late…but nobody minded…. Of course, with such a potential of possibly being able to PID another Orca...I went overboard again....pixels are cheap
 
With me
Laura Shelton (she seems to be the Orca lucky charm along with the "Orca dance")
Scott Cuzzo
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