2022 08-22 SB Channel
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MUGGED AND SO MUCH MORE!
The clouds did not cooperate much today as things varied between near zero fog, to ¼ mile visibility fog, to a few “sucker holes” of sun’s rays shining down on a small spot of water. It went from supremely glassy in the morning to a moderate breeze in the afternoon. BUT, somehow Captain Dave and the crew pulled off the single best whale trip so far this year! Sightings included: 2000 long-beaked common dolphins and 2+ humpback whales.
We began watching scattered small groups of dolphins around 1030am, and the largest pod, seen later, had about 700 animals.
Deckhand Kelly spotted the first whales, a pair that were inside the northbound commercial shipping lane. Unfortunately, 2 huge container cargo ships blocked our access and by the time the two passed us, the fog filled-in and we lost the whales. By the way, one ship, the Ever Living, was moving at over 20 knots, more than double the speed limit, with whales in the zone. It also quickly over-took and passed the second ship, the Sonic, which was moving at the legal 10 knot speed.
(Kelly and Dave would find the whales about a hour later, despite the fog). We saw at least one more spout in the area.
The two individual humpbacks came together for a few minutes and the larger swam off while we stayed with the more active sub-adult. “Active” is a complete understatement.
It seriously MUGGESD the Condor Express for about an hour. During this time, it swam right against the hull and did a variety of circles around the boat. It did a few spy hops on one side, then the stern, then the other side. It swiped its pectoral flippers at the same time that it was sounding and fluking up. It was all part of the repertoire since I, myself, cannot see the benefit of trying to dive while waving both pectorals around wildly. The animal breached 4 times, completely at random…keeping us watching and guessing all the more. It bellowed several trumpet vocalizations, and one of them was an actual “melody” which joined 3 or 4 trumpets together to form a sonata!
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Read MoreMUGGED AND SO MUCH MORE!
The clouds did not cooperate much today as things varied between near zero fog, to ¼ mile visibility fog, to a few “sucker holes” of sun’s rays shining down on a small spot of water. It went from supremely glassy in the morning to a moderate breeze in the afternoon. BUT, somehow Captain Dave and the crew pulled off the single best whale trip so far this year! Sightings included: 2000 long-beaked common dolphins and 2+ humpback whales.
We began watching scattered small groups of dolphins around 1030am, and the largest pod, seen later, had about 700 animals.
Deckhand Kelly spotted the first whales, a pair that were inside the northbound commercial shipping lane. Unfortunately, 2 huge container cargo ships blocked our access and by the time the two passed us, the fog filled-in and we lost the whales. By the way, one ship, the Ever Living, was moving at over 20 knots, more than double the speed limit, with whales in the zone. It also quickly over-took and passed the second ship, the Sonic, which was moving at the legal 10 knot speed.
(Kelly and Dave would find the whales about a hour later, despite the fog). We saw at least one more spout in the area.
The two individual humpbacks came together for a few minutes and the larger swam off while we stayed with the more active sub-adult. “Active” is a complete understatement.
It seriously MUGGESD the Condor Express for about an hour. During this time, it swam right against the hull and did a variety of circles around the boat. It did a few spy hops on one side, then the stern, then the other side. It swiped its pectoral flippers at the same time that it was sounding and fluking up. It was all part of the repertoire since I, myself, cannot see the benefit of trying to dive while waving both pectorals around wildly. The animal breached 4 times, completely at random…keeping us watching and guessing all the more. It bellowed several trumpet vocalizations, and one of them was an actual “melody” which joined 3 or 4 trumpets together to form a sonata!
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Megaptera novaeangliae SPYHOP & passengers 2022 08-22 SB Channel-b-165
Megaptera novaeangliae 2022 08-22 SB Channel-b-028
Megaptera novaeangliae 2022 08-22 SB Channel-c-128
Megaptera novaeangliae & passengers 2022 08-22 SB Channel-b-079
Megaptera novaeangliae 2022 08-22 SB Channel-b-024
Megaptera novaeangliae & passengers 2022 08-22 SB Channel-b-086
Megaptera novaeangliae 2022 08-22 SB Channel-c-139
Megaptera novaeangliae 2022 08-22 SB Channel-c-069
Megaptera novaeangliae 2022 08-22 SB Channel-c-155
Megaptera novaeangliae BREACH SPLASHDOWN 2022 08-22 SB Channel--106
Megaptera novaeangliae BREACH SPLASHDOWN 2022 08-22 SB Channel--110
Megaptera novaeangliae SPYHOP & passengers 2022 08-22 SB Channel-b-094
