5 gray whales and more !
There were two pairs of gray whales, then a single, as we worked around both sides of West Point, Santa Cruz Island today. As we have been seeing for the past 2 weeks, the gray whales move around and change directions quite a bit, and my subjective opinion is that this spot marks a turning or decision spot for the southbound grays. Will they move through the Santa Cruz Channel (between Santa Cruz and Santa Rosa Island)? …or will they continue east along the northern sea cliffs of Santa Cruz? Perhaps turning around and changing directions is a sign of uncertainty at this waypoint in the migration. Of course there were about 75 Risso’s dolphins in the area and they were giving us great looks, just like the gray whales. Captain Dave reported that at one point there were gray whales on one side of the Condor Express moving north, and on the other side of the boat they were moving south. To round out the cetacean diversity, approximately 250 long beaked common dolphins came along and played.
You never know what Mother Nature has in store.. best regards Bob Perry Condor Express