[CINC] Photos of Very Close Encounter Between Kayakers and Humpbacks (CX-7/31)

[Ralph M. Daniel, Ph.D.]

On the July 31 Condor Express trip, we encountered 2 humpbacks about 1/4
mile off the Santa Barbara harbor, feasting on a giant bait ball. Since
this sighting occurred so amazingly close to shore, there were 4
not-so-smart kayakers in the MIDDLE of the bait ball. And they had some
kids on-board in at least one of kayaks. The linked photos were taken by a
Swiss visitor on-board, Daniela Odermatt, who kindly sent them to me. This
particular humpback suddenly burst the surface in a lunge feeding. You can
see the bait fish flying out of the whale's mouth, and the kayaker, who was
about 3' from the open jaws!

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B1U_-8RvMlmIQUFsaXhNLTZaZHM&usp=sharing

Capt: Matt
Naturalist: Ralph Daniel, Hal Altman, Debbie Shelley
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