2020 09-23 SB Channel East
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Overcast skies near the mainland coast broke open and we were in mostly sunny conditions out in the land of the giants today. The sea surface was for the most part mirror glass and it was just wonderful when cetaceans are added to the picture. Sightings for today included: 10 giant blue whales (6 watched closely), and 1500 long- beaked common dolphins. All of the action was off the northeast corner of beautiful Santa Cruz Island.
We began to encounter small scattered pods of dolphins when we were about 8 miles off the mainland coast. Most of these were feeding pods and they were lots of fun to watch. About 30 min later we would get into a mega pod with at least 1000 animals. Among these dolphins there were a lot of mother with their calves. They interrupted their feeding to come play with the boat and to “show off” their youngsters to their fans on board.
Just after noon we found ourselves on the edge of the land of the giants. We ended up watching six different giant blue whales one at a time. One was a smaller subadult whale and all the rest were fairly large. A different whale looked a little bit skinny. One the last ones we watched kicked-up its tail flukes 100 yards or so away from the boat … nice to see. We closely watched six giant blue whales but there were at least four more in the near vicinity. Due to the time constraints we didn’t get a chance to closely observe the other whales.
The shipping lanes were active today. We saw one southbound vessel, a 199.9 meter long, 62,105 ton, car carrier, Viking Destiny, heading for Port Hueneme. A northbound container cargo vessel, was 336 meters long and 98,747 tons. Sadly at one point the car carrier was heading right into the whale zone. The nearest whale dove down immediately, about 100 meters in front of its bow. We did not see any evidence of a collision and we assume everything was fine. It should be mentioned that the car carrier was traveling fairly slowly already, only 9 knots, since it was on its approach into port.
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Read MoreOvercast skies near the mainland coast broke open and we were in mostly sunny conditions out in the land of the giants today. The sea surface was for the most part mirror glass and it was just wonderful when cetaceans are added to the picture. Sightings for today included: 10 giant blue whales (6 watched closely), and 1500 long- beaked common dolphins. All of the action was off the northeast corner of beautiful Santa Cruz Island.
We began to encounter small scattered pods of dolphins when we were about 8 miles off the mainland coast. Most of these were feeding pods and they were lots of fun to watch. About 30 min later we would get into a mega pod with at least 1000 animals. Among these dolphins there were a lot of mother with their calves. They interrupted their feeding to come play with the boat and to “show off” their youngsters to their fans on board.
Just after noon we found ourselves on the edge of the land of the giants. We ended up watching six different giant blue whales one at a time. One was a smaller subadult whale and all the rest were fairly large. A different whale looked a little bit skinny. One the last ones we watched kicked-up its tail flukes 100 yards or so away from the boat … nice to see. We closely watched six giant blue whales but there were at least four more in the near vicinity. Due to the time constraints we didn’t get a chance to closely observe the other whales.
The shipping lanes were active today. We saw one southbound vessel, a 199.9 meter long, 62,105 ton, car carrier, Viking Destiny, heading for Port Hueneme. A northbound container cargo vessel, was 336 meters long and 98,747 tons. Sadly at one point the car carrier was heading right into the whale zone. The nearest whale dove down immediately, about 100 meters in front of its bow. We did not see any evidence of a collision and we assume everything was fine. It should be mentioned that the car carrier was traveling fairly slowly already, only 9 knots, since it was on its approach into port.
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A spouting giant blue whale is seen heading uphill away from a series of its footprints.
Balaenoptera musculus VERTICAL spout footprint flukeprint 2020 09-23 SB Channel East--227
BalaenopteramusculusVERTICALspoutfootprintflukeprint2020ChannelEast227
Car carrier Viking Destiny heads south to Port Hueneme while the northbound container ship One Hamburg heads for Okland. This is why we have designated shipping lanes in and out of the Port of Los Angeles/Long Beach.
container cargo vessel One Hamburg & vessel car carrier Viking Destiny 2020 09-23 SB Channel East--015
containercargovesselOneHamburgcarcarrierVikingDestiny2020ChannelEast015
