Image: Scarlet does some kelping with a spy-hop for bonus points.
2023 07-28 SB Coast
It was a gorgeous mid-summer, balmy day in our neck of The Channel. Winds were light and variable. The west swell from yesterday had dropped by at least half. Sightings included: 3 humpback whales and 1500 long-beaked common dolphins. A medium-sized ocean sunfish (Mola mola) was seen for a few seconds before it dove deeper in advance of the oncoming dolphins.
Our first dolphins greeted us around 45 min into the trip. We’d see small pods, and some a bit larger and dispersed, as the day progressed. This was a nursery pod with lots of mother dolphins alongside their very small, football-sized, calves.
The star of the day was, of course, our friend Scarlet, who we watched yesterday and the day before. There was one other whale that was in the middle of a dolphin hot spot but we spent our time with our friend. (Does loyalty matter when whale watching?)
Having exhausted just about her entire repertoire yesterday, today she smartly came up with a new behavior, not shown previously this week: kelping! Scarlet spent about 20 min with a small floating, detached, kelp paddy. She did few rolls in it, had it on her head and back for a while, wrapped a small bunch around the base of her pectoral fin while on her side, and…best of all…did one, nice, long spyhop in the process! (See today’s photo of this).
Captain Dave and the crew departed in search of additional wildlife for about an hour. We explored the southeast, then turned west. After a long period of searching, we had another humpback sighting: it was Scarlet again!
You never know what Mother Nature has in store. Bob Perry Condor Express, and CondorExpressPhotos.com
I love Scarlet!