[CINC] Double Dolphin- 4/26/2013

[Ralph M. Daniel, Ph.D.]

Double Dolphin, Friday April 26



Naturalist: Ralph Daniel

Crew: Capt Kyle Varga, and Crew member Arie



AM: GIRL-POWER. Another perfect Santa Barbara day, calm, sunny, temperate.
We had 19 on-board,  including 3 pair of sister sibs, each pair about 6 and
4 yrs old, and no relationship prior to boarding. One pair belonged to GM
Ian at the Sailing Center.  One family from Sweden. The collective girls
had a blast jumping on the trampoline-like bow, sliding down the front
cabin, and hamming it up with Arie. A very mellow group all in all, and
quite happy to sight a mother-calf Gray pair just off Goleta slough, plus 5
common dolphin off  Hendry’s Beach.



2 Gray (mother-calf pair)

5 common dolphins

________



PM: BLOW IN YOUR FACE! Capt Kyle headed south, and did a great job of
spotting off the 4-Seasons  5 Gray’s (2 calves), in a hurry to get to
Alaska. This group stayed near the surface for ~ 30 minutes of cruising
along our starboard side. At Stearn’s Whart they decided to veer west,  did
a shallow dive and erupted 25’ in front of us! Most of the 21 passengers
screamed in delight, and all on the bow got a good dose of blow on their
faces! The Grays performed and showed a few flukes in spite of being in a
rush northward.  For a bonus another mother-calf pair erupted just off our
port side as the fab-5 took off north.



We had a Swiss family, a group of 5 young women from Walnut Creeks,  and a
SB couple (he was a former director of Marine World) and their  out-of-town
guests, and a couple from Spain. Everyone was delighted with the fab-5
show, the DD, and Kyle and Arie.



7 Gray (4 adults, 3 calves)
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