Two gray whales migrate through the giant kelp forest. photo: Bob Perry CondorExpressPhotos.com
6 Gray Whales including 1 Quad Pod (and more…)
Two adventures left the docks today, one at 9am and the other at high noon. On the morning trip the ocean was dead calm, Beaufort 0, and we ran along the edge of the kelp until we found two gray whales. These two were adult whales, but not huge. The were good whales and gave us great looks all around. After a while Captain Eric veered offshore in search of other cetacean species, but did not find any.
On the noon excursion, after a brief sighting of 2 bottle nose dolphins in the kelp, we discovered a gray whale Quad Pod up at More Mesa and stayed with them as the traveled in and out of the kelp beds until we reached the Gaviota Pier. This was a great gray whale foursome and were a lot of fun to watch. I should say that at this point there was a gentle breeze and the sea state was up to Beaufort 3, with not much swell on top. Again, after a hour or so playing with the Quad Pod, Eric, never daunted by recent history, headed offshore again. This time we encountered 2 humpback whales, a large one and a juvenile, tracking to the west southwest. There were other spouts and a couple of breaches further offshore….we were 3 miles off the beach at that point. Not long into the humpback watching a herd of 500 or so common dolphins came over to pester the whales and do a “meet and greet” with the humans on board. It was fantastic stuff in blue water at a time when the sun was just breaking through the overcast.
It was a very productive day and a good adventure was had by all. I’ll have the photos from yesterday and today posted online sometime this weekend.
Tomorrow we run all three trips again: 9, noon and 3. You never know what Mother Nature has in store.
Bob Perry Condor Express