[CINC] Islander 3/20

[Dick Bellman]

It was another great day on the water as the Islander showed these results:
4 Gray Whales
2,000 (approx) Common Dolphins

With Captain Anthony at the helm it was a great day to be out on the water.
 Even though the sightings were evenly spread over both trips, the nature
of each trip was uniquely different.  The AM trip found one Swedish
oncologist with wife and child accompanied by 125 5th graders from Mar
Vista school.  I need to give the youngsters their props as they were well
behaved and showed genuine interest when I shared some of our artifacts.
 This group was treated to great looks at a mega pod of approximately 1500
common dolphins on the backside of west Anacapa.  After continuing the
length of the island and heading back towards the coast, we came upon two
Grays, near platform Gail, which the Ranger 85 was already viewing.  They
seemingly did a lot of snorkeling because despite a day with virtually no
wind, there was hardly a spout to be seen.  Nonetheless we were afforded
some decent looks at these creatures.

The afternoon featured another large group of over 100 passengers, with the
majority being scientists from the Gordon Conference.  As usual these folks
were delightful, interesting, interested and represented locales from
around the world.  it was a delight to be in the company of these folks.
Again, as we approached platform Gail, we observed a number of huge
breaches.  It was another pair, juveniles, of Gray Whales.  Numerous
breaches were observed, much to the delight of this international crowd.
 Again, off the backside of west Anacapa we  encountered hundreds of common
dolphins, which as in the am provided some spectacular viewing.

Captain Anthony was assisted by Steve, and Michael with Andrea helping out
the the student group in the morning.  Marsha  Brumana and Michale Foutain
of the Naturalist class of 2013 were also aboard.

Dick Bellman
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://www.rain.org/pipermail/channel_islands_naturalist_corps/attachments/20130320/31797666/attachment.html>