[CINC] Double Dolphin 04-06 and 04-07 (Gray Whale Calf and Megapod of Common Dolphins)

[Christopher Carlson]

Hello fellow corpsman,

This week I did some double duty on the Double Dolphin. I went out on two
trips out of Santa Barbara Harbor on both Sunday, April 6, and Monday, April
7, with Captain Richard and first mate Marcella.

Sunday was populated with an overcast sky most of the day, until we were
pretty deep into the second trip, although the seas were fairly calm. The
first trip on Sunday, which had about 35 or 40 on board, was pretty quick in
spotting a juvenile gray whale swimming west very close to the coastal
cliffs of Santa Barbara. It was strange that not another whale was in sight,
and yet this guy was clearly very young, with not much scarring and a small
size. We followed him as he swam along for around an hour, and we had a
fruitless search of finding a possible parent. The second trip of Sunday,
sporting around 30 passengers, was almost without a sighting as we tried to
travel east from the harbor. However, near the end of the trip, one
passenger spotted a lone sea otter floating on his back traveling south.
Pretty cool! We couldn't stay with the otter for too long, however.

Monday had fewer passengers, about 15-20 per trip. It was quite a bit
sunnier than Sunday (ironic?), but the ocean was giving us quite a ride as
we first sailed out on both trips, but nearly all the passengers were having
fun with these rapids instead of getting sick, which was nice. The morning
trip was only noticeable by a group of about 100 or so California Sea Lions
about 2.5 miles off the coast, just diving along in a group. The afternoon
trip was incredible. The crew managed to spot some turbulence ahead, and
within a few minutes, we were completely surrounded by Common Dolphins. The
crew estimated that there were about 3,500 to 4,000 with us that afternoon,
maybe even more than that. They extended for miles and miles in all
directions, and the passengers and crew were having a blast hanging on to
the front of the boat and looking down at all the dolphins surfing along
with us. The captain said this was the largest grouping he had seen in "many
a year." We spent more than an hour having a blast, and then had a slow
meander back to shore. All of the passengers were completely satisfied, and
yet, they were all given free passes because we saw no whales! How crazy!

Anyway, a very good few days out on the channel. The crew says it's a
strange season for whales, with a lot still hanging around Baja, but
obviously there's some good stuff out there.

Chris Carlson
chrisjamescarlson at gmail.com
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