[CINC] Moby Blue! Albino cx 7/26 Sunday

[Kenneth A. Tatro]

Great report Shirley, Just like I was there.

What a great day on the water, yep, ... we are very blessed to be here  
and now.

I'm going out Thursday on IPCO so will look for your Albino for sure.

Ken Tatro

On Jul 26, 2009, at 8:53 PM, ThusOne at aol.com wrote:

> CX  7/26  approx. -lots of spouts all around & some far some pretty  
> close, which do you count?
>
> 2 groups commons on the way out & one group on the way in
>
> 10 Humpbacks? close some revisited
>
> 8  Blues
>
> AND, the fog did lift!   Our first Humpback was elusive, and Capt.  
> Mat, very wisely, as the day would soon prove,  said let's not use  
> our time here - onward.   A little further west, we encountered the  
> sweet spot - many whale spouts.      A pair of Blues stayed at the  
> surface quite a while (3 more blues a little further off) and both  
> of them fluked more than once.
>
> Then, all of the sudden after the 2 Blues had dove, we had a  
> Humpback breach, not too far to our left.   I saw the big splash...   
> darn!   Just call me Splash; I always turn my head in time to only  
> see the splash.    Because the Blues were still close (i.e., whale  
> traffic!), capt Mat slowly turned the boat towards the Humpbacks.    
> Another breach!   Two Humpbacks, Mom & Baby.    Baby Breached, then  
> Mom breached,  then baby breached again, then Mom.... HEY, I  
> actually saw a full breach that wasn't on the horizon, and more than  
> one!    As the boat got closer, Mom and Baby were doing peck slaps  
> and rolling over.   We could hear them quite clearly, and one could  
> appreciate the size of those pecs and the whales.   Mom didn't just  
> lift her peck up vertically and slap forward, she slapped forward,  
> and then lifted and slapped back.    The whale was actually slapping  
> at her own back!  Gimme five!  Not only down into the water, but up  
> and back again.   I never knew that before.      And Baby was  
> copying Mom.   So cuuuuute.
>
> And one time we went over to one or two Humpbacks and found  
> ourselves surrounded!    Five of them came very close to the boat.   
> A larger one with a flatish dorsal fin ridged white, which Mat  
> thought he had seen before.  (I may be getting the order mixed a  
> little here.)   And as we were in the middle of the Humpbacks, one  
> could watch those mysterious glistening small islands gently  
> appearing and disappearing in the distance - the Blues.    And then  
> an island erupted, white water --- a Blue making an aggressive  
> surface.
>
> We  reencountered the five friendly Humpies I think once again and  
> the pair of Blues who tended to fluke, and snorkel ... exhale under  
> water again, too.
>
> THE ALBINO
> To cap the day off...  Mat said, well we should be turning for home  
> now, but that he had seen a very light colored Blue Whale, and it  
> might be the albino, and he would check it out.   They think perhaps  
> there are 6 albino blue whales in the world, and one of them visits  
> our channel, but he had not seen it in 3 years.
>
> Wow, talk about ghostly glowing.   It was the albino and one could  
> see it 50 feet down.   Beautiful and dramatic.   It was a much  
> brighter appearance than the other Blues under the water, but not as  
> white as a Beluga whale.   For me, I am glad Casper is still doing  
> well and returned once again to our SB channel.
>
> Whew,  what a day.   With a capacity CX, 140+ passengers from all  
> over, including a musicians academy,  seemed to appreciate that,  
> despite somewhat "swelly seas" they had all had the fortune to  
> experience something very grand and unusual, indeed, on our planet.   
> And this just a few miles off the city of Santa Barbara.
>
> In addition to  Mat, Dennis & the ever gracious and lovely Amanda  
> crewing the CX, our volunteers were Richard Hauge, Shirley Johnson  
> and Morgan Coffey doing PID.
>
> Best to all,
> Shirley Johnson
>
>
>
>
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