[CINC] Condor Express - Sunday June 1st

[Kenneth A. Tatro]

Another fine report, Kevin.

Got the data report first then a great narative on how it went.

As you said first the moutains, then the sea, a full weekend.

Ken Tatro

On Jun 1, 2008, at 5:58 PM, Kevin Bailey wrote:

> Just the facts:
>
> Where: Condor Express
> When: Sunday June 1st, 2008 10am – 3:30pm
> Condor Crew:  Capt. Mat, Dave, and Dennis
> CINCers: Kevin & Toni Bailey with Barbara LaCorte on PID
> Passenger count: 65
>
> Humpback sightings = 26
> Humpbacks recorded with coordinates = 15 (the others were seen off  
> in the distance and not recorded with coordinates since they were ½  
> mile to 2 miles off in various directions)
> Common Dolphins = 20
> Dalls Porpoises = 4
> Pacific White Sided Dolphins = 75
> Sea Lions = here, there and everywhere
> CA Brown Pelicans = a lot, mostly near the harbor
> Cormorants = quite a few from the harbor to SCI
> Black-Crowned Night Heron = 1 seen on the bait station
> Pigeon Guillemots = several seen while cruising alongside SCI
> Sooty Shearwaters = many throughout the trip
> Western Gulls = from harbor to nesting on SCI
> Common Loon = 1 seen at entrance to Painted Cave
> Accidents: 1 (now you have to read my story for the details)
>
> Just the story:
>
> Just outside the harbor we saw a huge full body breach about 3 miles  
> straight out. It didn’t take long for the excitement to begin today.  
> Less than ½ hour into our trip we came upon 20 Common Dolphins  
> eating and frolicking. While looking at the dolphins 2 whales were  
> seen ½ mile ahead so we continued onward. By 10:30 we were seeing  
> spouts everywhere – we were surrounded. But wait before we talk  
> whales we have to get the elusive darting glance at the 4 Dall’s  
> Porpoises that appeared and disappeared just as quickly. Back to the  
> whales, we had 2 Humpbacks less than 100 yards from us, then 2 more  
> appeared, then more, for a total of 12 in our immediate area. We are  
> still only a couple miles from shore. For the next hour we enjoyed  
> the show while surrounded by humpbacks, the Pacific White Sided  
> Dolphins, (who stayed to enjoy the feast the whole time), Sea Lions  
> by the hundreds, everywhere you look, mixed together with  
> Shearwaters, Cormorants and Gulls, and all this was within several  
> hundred square yards. The whale on the front page of this morning's  
> SB News Press, with the extensive tail damage, was in this feeding  
> party frenzy. Barbara LaCorte got many great fluke photo ID shots.  
> We saw bubbles, a mini spy-hop, heard trumpeting, saw lunge feeding,  
> lots of flukes but no pecs because they were too busy gulping food  
> to be showing off. The three breaches seen were all at great  
> distances of 1-3 miles away.
>
> After an hour of this amazing show of densely packed biomass we  
> decided to head toward the west end of SCI. Shortly after we headed  
> toward the island, I noticed a passenger on the stairs at the front  
> of the boat. I was on the top deck and signaled the OK sign and she  
> shook her head no. I immediately got Dave’s and Dennis’ attention to  
> assess the problem. Mat slowed the boat down while assessing the  
> situation and it was determined that she was not going to be walking  
> on her own. We quickly turned around and headed home. The passenger  
> had twisted her knee and stayed put until we got back to Santa  
> Barbara where EMT’s and other medical staff were waiting for our  
> arrival. Dave asked me to go around and tell each passenger that we  
> would resuming our trip back out to SCI once this medical emergency  
> was dealt with. I told each passenger they could get off the boat if  
> they wished or they could continue on. Once the EMT’s had removed  
> the passenger, about ½ the other passengers decided to debark also.  
> They had already got their monies worth of a great show and these  
> folks were either a bit nauseous from the choppy seas or didn’t have  
> any interest in seeing the island.
>
> Our second trip (or second half of the trip) departed SB about  
> 12:30pm and we headed back out toward SCI monitoring the seas. The  
> reports we were getting was that the seas were getting progressively  
> rougher farther out into the channel. It was choppy but the norm for  
> the SB Channel. Once we reached SCI it was sunny (it was sunny all  
> day) and beautiful and we cruised along toward Painted Cave seeing  
> the usual sea birds and lots more sea lions who greeted us at the  
> entrance to the cave. One passenger asked how many times I had been  
> out here and don’t I get bored seeing the same thing all the time. I  
> told him that he could go out everyday for 10 days and it would be  
> different every day and that, no, I never get bored seeing a  
> different show every day.
>
> After leaving SCI we were running really late and the boat needed to  
> be ready for a 4pm party cruise so we put the pedal to metal to get  
> home as soon as possible. We passed by 2 more humpbacks cruising  
> along the island, and once we turned to head home, 3 off to the left  
> and 2 off to the right and more straight ahead. We didn’t have time  
> to stop but there was whale watching all the way home too. We got  
> back to home base at 3:30pm and everyone who stayed with us for the  
> entire day had a great time.
>
> Kevin Bailey
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