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<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>Hello Everyone…..Great
day in the channel!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>Here’s the tally:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>800 Common Dolphins<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>100 Rissos Dolphins<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>16 Humpback Whales logged /
23 total sightings total including those in the distance<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>1 Fin Whale<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>Many scene stealing Sea Lions
(gotta love those Sea Lions!!)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>The Condor Express left the
harbor with 127 passengers and fellow naturalists Kevin Bailey (PID) and Lisa
Collier. Captain Dave, Dennis and Jacques made up the crew of
the Condor Express. Passengers came from points all over the world including
Germany, Croatia, France, UK, Colorado and Northern
California. We had the challenge of heavy fog for most of the trip,
however, Captain Dave met the challenge magnificently and found a pod of common
dolphins very quickly. Next, a large pod of Rissos dolphins found us and
gave us a real treat with tail lobbing and many full breaches. They
stayed around the boat and many came very close to the boat. I have not
seen such gregarious behavior from Rissos Dolphins before. Not to be
outdone, a number of California Sea Lions showed up to steal the show. We
had a wonderful sea lion performance to compete with the Rissos Show. It
was kind of like a three ring circus with several humpback whales swimming into
the ring. The humpies did a great job stealing the show back from
the sea lions. They surfaced very near the boat, so close we could almost
touch them. We even got a good whiff of the whale breath! We
then came across another pair of Humpies who also stayed near the
boat. After the 2<sup>nd</sup> group of humpies….we had the
show stopper….a fin whale showed up surfacing very near the boat many times.
Many passengers were hoping for blue whales….but the fin whale was an
even better treat for all!! Thanks to Dave and the crew of the Condor
Express for bringing out the Fin Whale! It was time to head home,
but the show wasn’t over yet. We came across two more groups
of humpback whales and even got some more whale breath. Now it was time
to go home…but wait…there’s more. We finally
found a large pod of around 500 common dolphins with many jumping completely out
of the water. The passengers were very excited to see this much
action on such a foggy day. It was finally time to head home for
real. On the way back to the harbor, there was a distress call from a
boater who was in trouble. The boater was not sure where they were and the
crew of the Condor Express changed course slightly to aid in the search for the
vessel. Once we heard that the harbor patrol had located the vessel
and all was well, we finally headed back to the harbor. The fog never
lifted during the trip, but thanks to all of the creatures in the channel, we
had a wonderful day despite the weather conditions. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>Toni Bailey<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
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