Image: killer whales in the Channel
Captain Dave reports a high marine layer in spots and clear, blue sky in others today. There was a light bump on the water and no wind. Sightings were clearly unusual today: 3000 long-beaked common dolphins, 2 humpback whales, 4 killer whales, and 100 California sea lions.
Just 3 miles off of Hope Ranch we ran into our first large spread-out area of dolphins. They were working on large bait balls alongside California sea lions and sea birds. These kinds of hotspots would continue to be seen all day wherever we went. Also in the area, we watched one small juvenile humpback whale for a while.
Closer to Platform Holly, we found another small juvenile whale and more see lions and birds. We continued West about four more miles with dolphins and birds and see lions all the way.
Moving offshore to an area near the NOAA East Channel Buoy, we found tall dorsal fins which turned out to be a group of three female killer whales, and a small calf. Preliminary ID has one of the females to be CA26, and the one with the caf is probably, CA35. Although they made one close pass to say hello, most of the time they were heading east by themselves.
You never know what mother nature has in store.
Bob.
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