[CINC] 6/1 Speed Twin-Humpback Hot Tub...

[Scott Cuzzo]

What: Speed Twin whale watching, two trips
When: 6/1, Noon and Three O'Clock
Where: Santa Barbara departure
Who: Lisa Collier and Scott Cuzzo, Speed Twin Crew, and happy  
passengers.
Wildlife: Trip One-13 humpies reported, many more seen in the  
distance, 50+ Pacific White Sided Dolphins, sea lions; Trip Two-13+  
humpies, plus many more, 1000+ common dolphin, sea lions

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Kevin Bailey emailed me this a.m. to report that the Santa Barbara  
Sunday paper had a cover story on the whales that Marty and I  
encountered on Friday.  Not much written, but 3 or 4 big pictures,  
center and top on the front page of the paper.  Nice.  I picked up a  
copy on my way to S.B. this. a.m.

As noted above we found the "humpback hot tub" located in the  
channel...and EVERYONE was in the pool.  Seriously.  We were around  
humpies the whole time, with many off in the distance in every  
direction.  The morning trip had humpies, Pacific Whited Siders and  
sea lions feeding on bait balls.  Lisa saw a shark soar out the water  
twice, probably a Thresher?  Sorry I missed it.  Very nice.

The afternoon trip was more feeding, but no dolphins this time.  We  
saw a lot of breaches.  No were really close to the boat, buy many  
off in the distance, and over most of the second trip.  On the way  
home we found 1000+ Commons that delighted everyone, and were surely  
the frosting on the cake.  More spouts and breaches off in the  
distance on the way home.  I probably saw at least 20 breaches, and  
I'm sure I missed at least a few.

The whales came close to the boat often, but not interacting with us  
like on Friday.  Everyone was thrilled with their wildlife encounters.

Chewy and Rope were both seen today.  The morning trip, they were in  
different groups, in the afternoon, they were in the same group,  
which seems to support what I tell passengers about the "loose knit  
structure that they have".  Also I think I saw Mittens, the humpie  
with all white pecs, top and bottom.  Also, I noticed a juvenile that  
had a distinctive "cracked paint" texture on the top side narrow tail  
section, just above the fluke.  It was a white cracks on a black  
background.

Scott Cuzzo