[CINC] Condor 4/19

[Kevin Bailey]

Toni and I along with Barbara LaCorte on PID joined the Condor team for a coastal tour. We left the harbor and headed west toward UCSB. The skies were overcast but the seas were calm as we left with 44 people from Japan, Germany Swiss, Santa Paula, locals and lots of day-trippers from the LA area.
We found 2 pairs of mother/calves heading back to the kitchen together. They must have heard about the Orcas yesterday cause if they were any closer to the shore they would have washed ashore. We caught up to them by Goleta Beach pier and followed around the corner. They swam really close to the surfers at Campus Point. Once we were at UCSB we saw 3 Bottlenose Dolphins that seemed to enough having some company - maybe the Orcas scared them too? So we watch everyone hang out for a while and after passing Campus Point right off the beach in Isla Vista I counted 25 otters but I'm sure there were more in the area. No tags were seen but they all looked very large, healthy and happy to be enjoying their ever expanding new territory. We then head out to the Platforms to look for other critters but that was all for this trip. The wind was starting to pick up and we were wondering what the next 2 trips would be like.
Carolyn McCleskey joined us for the noon trip and it was a bumpy ride the whole trip. Entirely different than just an hour ago. Lots of green Martians. Again lots of the same crowd: Germans and other Europeans, Canada, Chicago and LA area day-trippers. Off of Shoreline Park we got a good look at about 15 Bottlenose Dolphins, some of which came right up to the boat. They wanted a bow ride but we were too slow so they went fishing instead. We watched them for a while and got some good interaction. Cruising up the coast we saw 10 otters that apparently had moved a bit since the last trip. Again, no visible tags and all looked fat and happy. Two hours plus later we had still not seen a whale and right before we turned to enter the harbor a blow was seen - and just one - some people saw it - most didn't, including me. And after waiting for 10 minutes it never appeared again so we were a bit late to the dock and whale checks were given to all. The green people were just eager to see land again. Now the thought was, are we doing the 3pm trip...?
Well, ya know things change all the time in the channel . . . as we were pulling into the dock the Sunset Kid was on a Gray and stayed there till we went back out. Surprisingly the weather was better. Instead of the wind getting progressively worse it actually died down quite a bit. Now I know why they call it the Condor Express - since we had just blanked on the last trip, that was not going to happen again so we loaded up and raced up the coast in super express mode to get to were the DD and SK were watching a pair. Once we got there, our company bowed out and we were alone with the whales. But there wasn't 2, there were really 3 . . . what looked like mom, newbie baby, and probably last years baby that was just hanging with mom for that long swim home. We followed this family for over an hour from Shoreline Park - Hendry's - through Hope Ranch. The 77 passengers got to see the whales but that was the only siting on this trip.
Kevin Bailey
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