[CINC] Condor Sunday 7/20

[Kevin Bailey]

Where: Condor Express

When: Sunday, July 20, 2008

Crew: Capt. Dave, Dennis and Amanda

Volunteers: Kevin & Toni Bailey; Barbara LaCorte on PID

Passengers: 102 from everywhere!: Germany, Britain, Holland, France, Columbia, Bay Area, LA area, Ventura County and all points in between.

Humpbacks: 2 (mom/calf pair)

Common Dolphins: 2 small groups, maybe <100 total and single and doubles all over for the 1st hour.

 

Today could be summed up by the Tom Petty lyrics: “The Waiting is the Hardest Part”!. Barbara gave her orientation speech to the enthusiast crowd ready to see whales. We then headed out to sea for our mid day tour in smooth seas and overcast skies that were a bit balmy. Twenty minutes into the trip we saw a small group of Common Dolphins which were very exciting to the large diverse crowd we had today. With dolphins scattered all over we were sure to see whales soon. As we headed out toward SRI / SMI, the three of us made our rounds to all aboard. This crowd seemed a bit more excited and animated than previous crowds so we had to ensure them a great day. After the small group of approximately 30 animals we saw a single or pair of Commons here and there as well as a few sea lions but nothing else for quite some time. 

 

Once we got to SRI we continued toward SMI a bit before we turned around. We saw the Pacific Storm, a research boat here tagging the Blue Whales. But unfortunately they had seen none yet when we got to them. After 2+ hours, the patients and patience were all wearing a little too thin. Three hours had now past; we had turned around, cruised toward SCI and still nothing! Where are those pesky whales? They are 60-80-100 feet long and we can’t find them anywhere. After talking with everyone about the whales we haven’t seen people starting asking about the cargo ships passing through the channel. We saw the usual ships with truckloads and an auto container ship headed toward LA. A walk through the gallery was getting overtaken by the grim reaper and a lot of sad faces.

 

Finally, after 3 hours at 1:15pm, Dave turned the boat fairly quickly and put the pedal to the metal. Everyone is looking at us. Did someone see something? No one is saying until it is confirmed but a few minutes later Dave had us watching a Humpback mom and calf pair. Hey! The waiting was finally over! All the gloom was replaced with enchanted excitement! We spent the next 35 minutes watching this calf do everything in the book and then some: early on we were greeted with a breach; spy hop (head only); spy hop to show off the pec fins; and then several more times: sideways and onto its back; continuous pec slapping over and over and over; rolling; lob tailing; peduncle throws; tail slapping, baby fluking (aahhh, the tail was so small – great for PID to track for future years). We guesstimate the baby was 2-3 years old at most. Mom also displayed some flukes and trumpeted as to tell her baby what tricks to show off next. It was a non-stop show for over ½ hour and the crowd even clapped as though we were in cohorts with momma whale to perform like we where at Sea World! Barbara got some great shots with the new PID camera. Since this sighting was so late in the day we didn’t get back to the dock till 3pm but everyone left grinning ear to ear and said thank you like we had it all scripted. We do that don’t we? 

 

Kevin Bailey
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