ACS-LA’s Summertime Whale Watching Adventure: our 69 passengers enjoyed multiple highlights during our nearly 9 hour trip on Saturday, August 14 (Condor Express Whale Watching), with 6 killer whales, 9 humpback whales, 3 minke whales, 5000+ long-beaked common dolphin, 1000+ short-beaked common dolphin, pinnipeds, ocean sunfish, and seabirds including a black-footed albatross and a brown booby!
Our 3 minkes included 2 friendly whales (possible cow/calf) that went under us a few times. Long-beaked common dolphin appeared throughout the day. Our first humpbacks were Chompers and her calf, who displayed nursing behavior; we also saw Chompers on our 2013 summer trip – chomping at the air in her unique feeding style. We virtually ignored a solo humpback when a male sea lion began feeding on a medium-sized ocean sunfish (Mola mola) next to our boat!
We watched 1,000+ short-beaked common dolphin: many leaping, and some tail-walking! Sea lions, fur seals, and elephant seals were in the rookeries on San Miguel Island. A breaching whale turned out to be another humpback mom, with her calf.
And then…ORCAS: the first we have seen on any ACS-LA trip! Our deckhand spotted distant dorsal fins first thought to be Risso’s dolphin – but they were actually 3 Bigg’s transient killer whales. ACS-LA Board member, Gray Whale Census Director, and orca expert Alisa Schulman-Janiger (California Killer Whale Project) identified them as the CA39As: mom CA39A “Hopper” with two of her three offspring; they were seen just 5 days earlier – over 200 miles away, off Big Sur! We spent 50 minutes with them as they moved slowly near us, and surfaced a distance away after 3-14 minute long dives. They closely approached us three different times, diving under our bow! Just before we headed back, they dove on our port bow again, and popped up on our starboard bow.
Three minutes later, 3 OTHER killer whales suddenly popped up twice on our starboard side: CA39A1 (the “missing” daughter), with CA49C and her calf CA49C1! The original 3 whales resurfaced on our port side a minute later – and the “new” killer whales “vanished” as mysteriously as they had appeared!
On the way in, we passed a huge feeding frenzy that included 4 humpbacks (one breaching) and hundreds of long-beaked common dolphin. Big thanks to our guest naturalists: Greg Sanders (Environmental Specialist for the US Navy, cetacean/pinniped expert), Dave Pereksta (Avian Biologist at the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, renowned bird expert), and Rachel Rhodes (project scientist at the Benioff Ocean Initiative, marine mammal conservationist leading the newly launched Whale Safe project to help reduce ship strikes). An outstanding, unforgettable ACS-LA Summertime Adventure!