[CINC] 3/18 on the Vanguard

[Tom Flor]

Morning trip:  We departed with about 20 passengers on calm seas with 
complete overcast and limited visibility.  About 2 hours into the trip we 
encountered a lone Humpback about 2 miles off the east end of Anacapa.  He 
mugged the boat for the next hour, swimming close alongside and passing 
repeatedly under us and popping up on either side, at one point even 
pressing the tip of his snout up against the boat and rising a few feet out 
of the water (forgive the "he" reference, it just sounds better than "it" 
and we had no idea whether male or female).  Everyone was delighted and 
eventually he swam about 100 yards away and we were able to back off and 
head back to shore.  We stopped briefly for a small pod of dolphins on the 
way back and arrived in port only slightly late to pick up a new load of 
passengers.

Afternoon trip:  We returned to the east end of Anacapa under the same 
weather conditions and a similar passenger count and encountered 3 Grey's 
slowly swimming north who seemed in no hurry to get anywhere.  We followed 
along and watched them for about 30 minutes and then joined the Ranger 85 to 
observe a single Humpback, most likely the same one from our morning trip. 
More views of the Humpback close aboard until it was time to head home, 
again with a short stop for dolphins.

Another great day on the channel.

Tom Flor


/channel_islands_naturalist_corps