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<p class=MsoNormal>1 Blue Shark (5-6 feet long)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>1500 Common Dolphins<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>50 porpoising female sea lions + 2 very large male sea lions<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>12 Orcas ! !<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>Today started off as a slow chilly day with nothing much
happening for over an hour. Scott Cuzzo and Toni Bailey were working the crowd
of 22 from France, England, Holland, MN and S. Cal. We were also joined by Bob
Perry who many of you know. He’ll have pictures up on his site in the
next day or two. We got a very quick glance at a Blue Shark at the surface
right in front of the boat, but must have spooked it because it dove immediately.
I did get to see 2 fins out of the water and this was my 1<sup>st</sup> Blue
Shark sighting. There were several types of sea birds but not the huge groups
we saw 2 weeks ago. We did however see lots of tiny auklets skimming over the
surface barely able to fly with their bellies full of food. There were also a
couple of small sea lion groups that were porpoising along like they were on a
mission and had somewhere to get to. They probably knew what we had yet to see
or know.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>We made it deep into SRI territory with good views of SMI
and great views of SRI and SCI and never saw a whale. We then cruised far into
the gap and still no luck so we cruised along SCI and came upon a megapod of
1500 Commons. They were all doing their regular swimming stroke – no
jumping or frolicking like in weeks past but it’s always exciting to see
so many dolphins together. As we continued down SCI we saw a few sea lions and
birds along the bluffs then poked our nose into the cave before heading home.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>By now almost all of the passengers are sound asleep
downstairs with no one on deck. When Bob and I saw each other this morning we
both said to each other that we were here today to take pictures of Orcas. When
I talked to Scott a couple days ago we decided that today was the day we were
finally going to see Orcas. It’s now after 1:30pm and no whales. We are
heading home and Scott and I convince Toni that she had not done her Orca dance
well enough. Toni demonstrated the impromptu Orca Dance and I swear it was 15
minutes later – they appeared! We were 60-70% home and Mat, Jacque, Bob
Perry and I are up top looking for spouts. Mat saw something a mile+ ahead. A
small spout…is it a Gray whale? Could be an Orca? Moving full steam ahead
we saw the 3<sup>rd</sup> surfacing of the whale and we all clearly saw the
black and white of an Orca whale. The yelling and screaming of excitement was
alive! In less than 10 seconds, a sleeping boat was all at the bow as we headed
directly for a group of Killer Whales. My Christmas wish had come true! When we
got to the Orcas there were 12 and several were in a very tight group. There
was a very young calf less than 2 years old. It had its black and white
markings and was not a newbie; there were no wrinkles or other features that
would indicate it was brand new. It did obviously stay immediately next to its
mother and was surrounded in a tight group the whole time. I got lots of great
photo ID pictures of the saddles and many pictures with multiple whales. The
whales were absolutely amazing. Every person on board was completely in awe!
They were so close together that many of the photos had up to 6 whales in a
single frame. They were moving quite fast and we were with them for 4-5 down
cycles. On 2 down cycles we could see them 300 feet under the boat on the fish
finder. We didn’t see the Orcas until a bit before 2pm and stayed with
them for ½ hour which made us late getting home but no one was complaining. It
was an amazing day that we will all always remember.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>Kevin Bailey PID<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
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