[CINC] Casper and friends ­ the friendly humpbacks

[john kuizenga]

Great Report Scott!  Read it in its entirety with great interest!  Was
fascinated with your description of the hump that repetitively surfaced to
watch passengers aboard the Speed Twin. Sounded like a real visceral
experience for you and perhaps the whale as well?   Also, great insight into
why "Chewy", as you call him/her, would need to dive at such a steep angle
with only a single fluke for propulsion.  Would add that in addition to
concentrated weight and a straight shot to the depths, the 90 degree dive
angle might reduce the drag coefficient and perhaps even the water
displaced, say versus a dive angle of 65 degrees? Maybe some of the
scientific pundits can weigh in on this! Keep those great reports coming!
John Kuizenga
   


> From: Scott Cuzzo <scott at scottcuzzo.com>
> Date: Fri, 30 May 2008 16:16:21 -0700
> To: CINC <channel_islands_naturalist_corps at rain.org>
> Subject: [CINC] Casper and friends­the friendly humpbacks
> 
> The short and sweet:
> 
> When: Today, Friday, May 30
> Where: Santa Barbara and the channel
> Who: Scott Cuzzo, Marty Flam, the friendly Speed Twin crew, two news
> crews, and fun passengers
> What: Three very friendly humpbacks, and dozen or so bottlenose
> Why: Why not?  It was a spectacular day on the ocean!
> 
>>>>>> 
> 
> The long and hopefully not too boring:
> 
> Marty Flam and I carpooled to Santa Barbara to save gas and enjoy the
> great company.  We boarded the Speed Twin early and observed a
> cameraman who was filming for a story.  (Probably to be shown on
> channel 12 in S.B. next Friday at 6 p.m.)  Plus there was another
> person there from channel 2, allegedly.  Even though I was wary of
> the camera, I just had a higher sense of expectation today than
> usual.  The boat had an assortment of locals, plus midwesterners, and
> numerous foreigners.  There was a honeymooning couple from London and
> a little boy who only knew Russian, even though I kept speaking to
> him in English.  Everyone seemed in a very upbeat mood.  The day was
> beautiful.  The ocean was calm with barely even a breeze.  And
> Steve's wife, Celia had put the most delicious cherries out to eat!
> 
> Steve, the Speed Twin captain, knew where to find those friendly
> humpbacks that we've heard a lot about from many other reports.  As
> soon as we got about 6 miles out we found three humpies.  As we got
> close, one quickly departed.  But the other two stayed and decided to
> bond with us.  Within minutes of getting near them, Steve stopped
> moving the boat and the two humpies came right to the boat and
> decided to enjoy our company for what was an hour or more.
> 
> The humpies spyhopped so close to the boat we could nearly touch
> them.  The blew at the bow so many times I stopped counting.  They
> rolled over right at the side of the boat.  They lifted their tails
> right at the bow causing the boat to shift substantially.  They stuck
> their noses up and just looked at us over and over, as we looked at
> them.  It felt like a real bonding moment for whales and humans
> alike.  Two different species very curious about the other one, and
> trying to interact.  During this hour or longer session the longest
> we wouldn't see a whale was about a minute or two at the most. There
> was no feeding, just two friendly whales who were as involved with
> checking us out as we were with them.
> 
> One of these whales, who I'm calling "chewy" has a tail that looks
> chewed off.  I've seen this whale a few times.  The tail looks like
> only about 50% of the original tail remains.  It has a very
> distinctive dive.  It throws it's tail straight up (to 90 degrees)
> and then goes straight down.  My theory is that because the chewed
> off tail no longer provides enough propulsion that it must get all of
> it's weight up in the air to try to dive deeper.  If you see it dive,
> you'll know what I mean.
> 
> The other whale had a normal tail, but has a "scar collar" around
> it's neck, behind the blowhole.  Maybe it had been caught in a net or
> rope at one point.  The scar looks pretty even and symmetrical like
> it's wearing a necklace.
> 
> What great fun to see these two creatures up close and personal.  How
> blessed I am to have been a witness to such majesty.
> 
> Thanks for sticking with me to the end, if you got this far!
> 
> Scott Cuzzo
> 
> 
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