[CINC] Northbound Grays sighted Big Sur

[maria ornelas]

Hi Naturalists,

My pleasure to report having seen whales Wednesday March 21, 2012 while camping with my family at Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park. It was wonderful trip, driving North on Highway 1, hugging the mountain. I've driven it ~12 years ago, but it was as spectacular now as the first time. The vast ocean, different shades of blue blending into each other. But first, the Elephant Seals around Piedras Blancas, by the light house, just south of Cambria. Massive animals, sprawled all over the beach. I couldn't tell pups born this year, they were all so big.  Here are some specifics on the whales:

-- Off Pfeiffer Beach (small, very rocky, powerful surf. Sightings from a high perch), about 1.5 miles south of the park
-- 10 Grays seen most clearly, several other spouts too far away.
-- In a span of ~ 20 minutes, I first saw 2 spouts next to each other. These two were not out of sight yet when I noticed a third Gray. The first two were just out of sight, when I spotted the 4th one. So it is possible that these 4 whales were traveling as a pod. It was hard to estimate distance from the beach.
-- About 25 minutes passed without seeing a spout, but I was hooked and couldn't leave, you understand! My dear husband is also very understanding, and his 300 mm lens (extending it to 600mm) was great. It was cool and windy, but very sunny. We were at our post for over two hours.
Happy sightings all. I'll be whale watching this coming Saturday.


Maria G. Ornelas
maria at rasnowpeak.com

         \ /                      \ / 
´¯'·.¸¸..><((((º>.·´¯'·.¸¸.·´¯'·.¸><((({º>¸.·´¯'·.¸. ,. 
         / \                      / \






-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://www.rain.org/pipermail/channel_islands_naturalist_corps/attachments/20120322/ef5e3b26/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: gray21mar12.jpeg
Type: image/jpg
Size: 13441 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://www.rain.org/pipermail/channel_islands_naturalist_corps/attachments/20120322/ef5e3b26/attachment-0001.jpg>