[CINC] Whale Watching--March 7

[Barbara Hilburn]

Two trips on the Adventure with Capt. Jimmie, Laurie, and Joel.  Carol was the other naturalist.

A.M.:  3 gray whales
	  1 juvenile humpback
	  1 feeding frenzy with about 200 common dolphins, sea lions, Western gulls, peilicans and cormorants 

The eighteen passengers, including Peruvian Texans and visitors from Puerto Rico were well pleased with their morning.
Clear and quite cold with 8 knot winds.  Waves about 3 feet.  

_________________________________________________________________________________________________
P.M.:  4 friendly humpbacks swimming around the boat.  Nice close views and a bit of whale breath.  Some nice fluke views.
	  2 sea lion "colonies" of juveniles basking on the temporary sand beaches on the South side of Anacapa.

Interesting group of 50 people.  All but a few from the Gordon Research Conference on batteries (one group) and the lymphatic system (other group).
People from many countries--Finland, Austrailia, Germany, Israel, China, Ecuador, Spain, Korea, Switzerland, as wells as New Orleans, New York,
Michigan, N. Carolina, Seattle, Oklahoma.  They enjoyed their afternoon break from lectures and lecturing and were returning to evening sessions.

Windier and colder in the afternoon, but sunny and clear with choppy waves.

A good time had by all.

Barbara Hilburn