[CINC] IPCO 26 Aug 09

[Kenneth A. Tatro]

HI folks,

Data:

Some few Common Dolphin
4 Blues including a Calf/cow pair
2-3 Humpback blows but no real sightings

Seas: 2-3 with some 4s on the way out with much fog in the AM.   
Mellowing some for the afternoon and the run home.

Following our in harbor presentation and out into the open sea we met  
a foggy, foggy morning, not too deep, but very thick and persistent.   
And a fairly bouncy sea. Scattered Common Dolphins, not really in a  
"pod" so to speak, showed up, ... now and then.  Nothing to write home  
about, for sure.

Finally the fog broke and then it tried to hang in there a little  
longer, but then it dissipated for the day. Aha!! A whale off to the  
west.  The Condor Express had turned to come back from Miguel, finding  
nothing there. "Our" whale, a Blue, gave us a couple of breathing  
cycles from afar and disappeared, but nicely with a side view of a  
fluke, yet still at a distance and in among some reasonable chop.  
Folks on board were shooting away with several getting the Fluke.

This guy, down some 10 minutes + by the time Condor had rendezvous  
with us and we never saw it again.  Then off to the port side we saw  
two more spouts, a Calf/Cow pair of Blues, ... nice to see the calf in  
attendance, as this means the Blues are reproducing. They also were  
off a ways and not presenting for good shots for PID, my task of the  
day.  But a sighting for sure and many of the folks we shooting away.   
Then another individual showed, another Blue, but still out a good  
ways.  Reasonable looks qualify as solid sightings.

So some views but not one of the better days, ... but then we ARE  
seeing Blues, just not nicely up close and personal.  So no complaints.

A fine cruise along Santa Cruz and into Painted Cave, their usual way,  
way in there gave a very nice close out for a rather nice day after all.

Captiain Jimmy, with Crew of Jacob and  Danielle did their usual fine  
job with the boat handling, search and narrating.

Good Tom Flor was my side kick today, going around in his usual quiet  
way, chatting it up with the folks, while demonstrating the "toys,"  
Baleen and Krill.