[CINC] [Fwd: Re: Orcas off of SCI]

[bart at vnusinfo.com]

I was on the CX that day and put out a report about the orcas to the rain
list that evening. Sorry some of you missed it.
Bart Francis


---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------
Subject: Re: [CINC] Orcas off of SCI
From:    "KTL" <KTL at CanyonVoices.com>
Date:    Mon, October 6, 2008 5:03 pm
To:      "Trent Barnhart" <trent_barnhart at hotmail.com>
         channel_islands_naturalist_corps at rain.org
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

I was in the Channel en route to Santa Rosa and we heard nothing about
orcas. We went on the south side of SCI in the morning and the north side
in the afternoon.
Karen T-l
  ----- Original Message -----
  From: Trent Barnhart
  To: channel_islands_naturalist_corps at rain.org
  Sent: Monday, October 06, 2008 4:02 PM
  Subject: [CINC] Orcas off of SCI


  Did anyone here of this sighting? Or did I just miss it?



  Thanks,

  Trent B



  Killer whales emerge off Santa Barbara

  9:57 AM, September 29, 2008

  Diane and Bernardo Alps, prominent members of the American Cetacean
Society's Los Angeles chapter, sent Outposts the

  accompanying photos of orcas they encountered Saturday while aboard the
Condor Express out of Santa Barbara.

  My response was one of disbelief. I too was in the Santa Barbara Channel
on Saturday, en route to and, later, from Santa Cruz

  Island. I did not even see any dolphins, partly because of persistent fog.

  Orcas, or killer whales, are not commonly seen off Southern California.
They are an apex predator and always a great discovery for

  marine mammal enthusiasts.

  Passengers aboard the Condor Express, despite limited visibility, were
greeted by 800 common dolphins before the orca sighting

  off the west end of Santa Cruz Island.

  'We were traveling slow, looking for blue whales, when we spotted small
blows up ahead,' Diane Alps reported. 'We were thrilled

  to discover they were orcas! Once we got closer, we noticed an oil
slick. We also noticed that occasionally birds would mob an area

  where the orcas surfaced.

  'These signs indicated they had probably recently killed something --
most likely something small, by the size of the slick. They

  were playful, breaching several times and crossing under and around the
boat.'

  It was quite the cozy unit: An adult male, two females and one juvenile,
out on foray. The male, with a drooped-over dorsal fin, had

  been seen in the channel before.

  'We stayed with them for approximately an hour before heading off the
see the Painted Cave and the rest of Santa Cruz Island,'

  Diane Alps said.

  Alas, all I saw was gray water and sky.

  --Pete Thomas

  Photos by Diane Alps



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