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Gray Whale Migration along the San Diego coast
Monday, 03/12/2007
Tsunami wall of Common Dolphins
Mood:  special

From the Whaler Sightings log....  had to share!  AM cruise: "Ok, we have this one on video -- 3 miles of dolphins!  About a football field in width- awesome! Plus- the most unusual whale sighting - a juvenile gray whale lingering amongst the dolphins, floating on its' back - just below the surface; rolling around.  It held the front half of its' head above the surface for a bit.  Small blow then a shallow dive.  Incredible view of the whale just below the surface.  Appeared to be ok; enjoying being w/ the dolphins! 

...  On the way back in we saw the 'tsunami' wall of dolphins.  Also large herds of sea lions.  OH Oh -Saw a gray in the bay!  We saw just the arch, knuckles of the whale (by the 2nd marker along John Wayne's jetty).  WOW - This was a news worthy & eventful morning!"

PM Cruise:

"Spotted the "Bay Gray" again by the Jetty, on the way out of the bay.  8 miles out- we saw a group of 25-30 Rissos  with a pair of bottlenose (w/ smaller calf) intermingling with the Rissos.  2 Rissos leaped out and slapped the water with their heads. 

On approach @ about 400 yds we saw blows & then a total of 12 breaches!  Turned out to be a group of 9 adult Gray whales!  They were very relaxed with us - parallel swim for approx. 40 minutes. Lots of blows with rainbows misting out to sea.  One very large adult came near the boat to 'check us out'. Gentle giants cruising Northbound @ about 10-11 miles out.  Saw one solo whale on the way back in" (excerpt from the Whaler Sightings log)


Posted by Leslie at 9:00 PM PDT
Updated: Sunday, 03/18/2007 9:39 PM PDT
Saturday, 03/03/2007
Northbound whales
Mood:  happy

I know ... it's been awhile.  I am going out on the boat each week..  but with work, I have little time to 'play' on the computer.  

 ...  This afternoon was beautiful!  We're getting the warm Santa Ana winds and plenty of sunshine.   The Adventure headed out of the bay due West - in search of the Northbound Gray whales.   It's that time in the season...

We found dolphins everywhere- in every direction!  Pacific White Sided & commons.   We even saw a couple of sea lions hanging out with their flippers in the air!

THEN..  something wonderful appeared ... a *large* group of Rissos dolphins!  This is a special treat and I was thrilled!  Everyone got a great view- as the dolphins were surrounding the boat on both sides.  The glow of their white bodies underneath the water was beautiful.  A few were playful- jumping & breaching out of the water.

On the way back into the bay, we spent a short time with 2 whales- which appeared to be a female with her calf.  She probably had ONE thing on her mind....   Arctic Sea --> food --> gotta head north... 


Posted by Leslie at 9:26 PM PST
Sunday, 01/28/2007
14 whales!
Mood:  happy

I am still giddy from this morning's cruise!  What a wonderful day out on the Pacific!   Still a bit chilly, but the water was calm; smooth like ice. 

It didn't take long for us to find our "1st" whale(s) -  10:15am!  Amazing!  All in all- we sighted about 14 whales during the 3 1/2 hour cruise. 

Besides the great viewing of the whales fluking with the coastline behind them (as well as the Coronado Islands), we came upon a pair of whales with some Pacific White Sided dolphins swimming alongside the whales.  Captain Bill told the passengers that this is a sign that some "whale lovin' might be going on".  Sure enough....   we saw mating behaviour!  

The Gray Whales are magnificant ... and I enjoyed sharing that with the passengers today:  all the cute kids, a group visiting from Germany, and my new friend- Theresa - with her husband and son.  We had a fun group of passengers today.  Made the trip that much better! 


Posted by Leslie at 7:25 PM PST
Sunday, 01/21/2007
9-11 adult whales this morning!
Mood:  happy

...Yet another beautiful morning on the Pacific..... I and everyone on the boat were blessed with the sight of 9-10 whales!   They were traveling in pairs; and showing their flukes quite often.  We also saw MANY blows off in the distance.   As always, the passengers were thrilled to see the dolphins... hundreds of COMMON dolphins.

 


Posted by Leslie at 7:36 PM PST
Updated: Sunday, 01/28/2007 8:29 PM PST
Saturday, 01/20/2007
Another good day!

 

 Elisabeth wrote about the AM cruise..., "We saw 3 pairs of whales...  It was fantastic when they came up right at the boat.  The blow was so loud it startled me, because I was looking farther away!"


Posted by Leslie at 2:31 PM PST
Sunday, 01/14/2007
3 mother/calf pairs!!!
Mood:  special

I just returned home from the most amazing day on the water!  During the afternoon cruise, we spent time with *3* different mom/calf pairs!  These babies were beautiful! (Can't call them small...  ~15 feet in length!)  The water was like smooth glass.... The mothers were all traveling slowly; not showing flukes - but it provided great photo opportunities. 

It has been an unusual season so far; we are seeing soo many mom/ newborn calves heading south.

We shared the viewing with many other boats- including some sail boats.  San Diego Bay was hosting a Tall ship event; so we saw some beautiful tall ships.   

I had a couple of friends on board; it was thrilling to share this with them!


Posted by Leslie at 7:24 PM PST
Saturday, 01/13/2007
Sold out cruise- and 8 whales!

After a major storm; and a couple days of rough seas- I went out on the afternoon cruise.   The seas were pretty calm and provided some good viewing of the marine life.  We saw approximately 8 adult whales and hundreds of dolphins!  

The whales fluked, and showed arched backs.  The morning cruise reported seeing ~15 whales!! And they saw mating behaviors! Wow.

What was special about this day was the group of Girl Scouts that we had on board (~260!).  They were excited and it was nice to be able to share my love of the whales with them! 


Posted by Leslie at 7:41 PM PST
Saturday, 01/06/2007
A female with a calf!
Mood:  special

Along with ~100 passengers and one other "Whaler", I was blessed with the sighting of 4 whales this afternoon!   The boat went south toward the Islands and we came upon a beautiful adult Gray whale.  It was unique because it had a WHITE fluke!  I've posted the picture (original & zoomed)....  as proof! 

The 2nd whale was a bit smaller and traveling alone.  It kept changing direction and we soon decided to leave it.  It was a typical '6 minute' whale.

While we were heading back into the bay, we came upon an adult..and a passenger yelled out that there was a CALF swimming alongside 'mom'!  I didn't see it at first, but sure enough- after mom's blow, a little puff of water/air would follow....   the calf was quite small (maybe 10 ft long?).  I hope mom & calf make it to the lagoons safely.  

As soon as the Captain announced that a group of dolphins were sighted at the bow, the ship came alive with shreks and yells!   Everyone was so excited and cameras were out.  The group consisted of Common and Pacific White Sided. 

**The morning cruise was a huge success-- a total of 15 whales!!!  Wow!

... I'm already looking forward to my next trip out on Friday, the 12th.


Posted by Leslie at 6:30 PM PST
Updated: Sunday, 01/07/2007 1:34 PM PST
Thursday, 01/04/2007
No whales...

Since returning from my holiday travels, I have been out on 2 whale watch cruises (1/2 morning and 1/3 afternoon)... with no whale sightings!  What a bummer... 

But, whales HAVE been seen on other cruises.   Yesterday morning, Hornblower came upon 2 traveling pairs of Gray whales.  My next trip out will be on Saturday.  I have my fingers crossed. 


Posted by Leslie at 12:25 PM PST
Saturday, 12/23/2006
Breaching, oh my!
Mood:  incredulous

The Pacific Ocean treated us well today!  During the morning cruise, we were blessed to see both Gray whales and Pacific White Sided dolphins! 

The *1st* whale we came upon was intent on getting to Baja...  it was heading due south and we traveled along with it for ~30 minutes.

 The *2nd* whale surprised us with TWO breaches! This performance happened so fast, but it was beautiful. 

Later in the cruise, we came upon 1 or 2 additional gray whales... it was difficult to keep track of their whereabouts and these whales are not easily distinguishable. 

I was SOOOO tempted to stay for the afternoon trip, but decided to give my body a rest. 

 


Posted by Leslie at 3:44 PM PST
Updated: Thursday, 12/28/2006 3:55 PM PST

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