[CINC] Condor WW- 4/25/13

[John Kuizenga]

9 am trip: Cancelled

12 pm trip: 
30 Bottlenose in three groups, including a few babies and juveniles
3 pair of Gray mom/calf combos
1 Steller Sea Lion, which I only glimpsed, but Captain¹s Scott and David
were confident in their ID

3 pm trip:  Cancelled

Chamber of Commerce day on the waters off SB, with blue skies, less than 1¹
of swell and only enough wind to create a few cats paws on the surface.

The conveyor belt of Gray¹s continues unabated, although we nearly missed
two mom/calf pairs, as we were about to duck back into the harbor at 1430
when they were sighted, within two several of each other.  Earlier we had
good looks at the other cow/calf pair, which we followed for 30+ minutes, as
they swam along at the usual 3 to 4 kts. This pair made several diversions
into nearby kelp beds and back out again following open leads. Mom was adorn
with many barnacles, mottling patches and depigmented spots, including one
white spot 2-3¹ in dia. on her left flank, which made for a nice identifying
mark, which I was able to ID.
It was a good day for Bottlenose sighting, as we saw three groups, however
some could have been repeats from the outward bound leg of the trip?  Half a
dozen were either babies or juveniles.

Small contingent (15-16) of nice folks from several foreign countries, the
mid-west and CA, who Naturalist Rae Emmett, Bruce Mathews and I had ample
time to chat with. 

Captains Dave and Scott handle the vessel with with aplomb of old salts.

John Kuizenga (PID)

    

 
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