[CINC] Condor today...

[Scott Cuzzo]

Dear naturalists,

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Marine mammals seen:

1500 common dolphin
1 Minke whale

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It was a sunny day with big swells on the Condor today.  A small  
crowd of about 23 got what seemed like would be merely great views of  
common dolphin and sea lions today.

At the tail end of the trip a Minke whale breached out in front of us  
as we neared the coast!  It breached again!  Those who were paying  
attention got to see 3-4 breaches, though many were napping on the  
benches.  You snooze you lose...some say. You just never know when  
you can go from "zero to hero" in a few seconds, as Captain Dave  
said.  Always good to pay attention...I say.

Between two of the breaches the Minke had covered a lot of ground, so  
my first thought is that is might have been two whales. And who  
knows...  Between breaches, you could see the Minke surging at the  
surface.  I didn't look like lunge feeding though.  After the  
breaching ended the Minke approached the boat and followed us for  
about 5 minutes.  It would come up on one side, quite close, a few  
times, then come up on the other side a few times, then back to the  
other side.  We all got lots of good views of the pointy mouth, the  
curved dorsal fin, and the bright white dorsal fin patches.

It was probably my best Minke sighting to date!

Regards,

Scott Cuzzo