ACS–LA Summertime Whale Watching Adventure 2022: we had a wonderful 8 hour trip on Condor Express Whale Watching with Captain David Beezerand crew Saturday! Cetacean totals: 1 humpback whale (“Stevie Bubbles”), ~1500 long-beaked common dolphin, ~2300 short-beaked common dolphin, and 4 offshore bottlenose dolphin – plus ~25 northern elephant seals on San Miguel Island, a harbor seal, California sea lions, a possible shark, and various seabirds! We spotted our first group of about 50 long-beaked common dolphins about 40 minutes after leaving the dock. We encountered at least 4 other groups of long-beaked common dolphins throughout the day: there were ~800 in the largest group. Some dolphins were feeding, racing around and zig-zagging while swimming upside down; one was lying on its back, then raised its head up and spyhopped! Many were bow-riding and some were wake-riding. North of Santa Rosa Island, we encountered the first of 3 groups of short-beaked common dolphins just before 11 am, with likely 1500 in the largest group! Short-beaked common dolphins tend to be more surface-active than long-beaked common dolphins; these were EXTREMELY surface active. Many rocketed out of the water at the same time; some were spinning in the air, and one did a “tail walk” behind our boat! We spotted nursery groups with young calves, as well as many “honeymooners” mating next to our boat (with males swimming upside down under females). They were also bow-riding and wake-riding. Between 2 large groups of short-beaked common dolphin, we briefly spotted an unidentified animal’s large wide fin and dark body – likely that of a large shark. We paralleled the Channel Islands, reaching San Miguel Island around 1230; we rarely get out that far on our all day trips! We watched ~25 northern elephant seals in the rookeries at Cuyler Harbor as they slept, scooted around on the sand, checked each other out, and used their front flippers to throw sand onto their backs; there was at least one large male on the beach. A harbor seal raised its head near some giant kelp, and curiously eyed us. Just outside the harbor, we spotted 4 very elusive offshore bottlenose dolphin – possibly 2 cow/calf pairs. We headed across the channel back to the mainland, then headed down the coast, following the line of oil rigs. At 2pm, just south of Platform Holly, we spotted a solo small humpback whale; it had multiple healed entanglement scars on both sides of its body. After multiple surfacings and brief dives, it finally fluked! The markings on the underside of its flukes enabled us to identify it as humpback ID number CRC-17996. This whale was nicknamed “Stevie Bubbles” by one of our onboard guests, Patricia VanOver Indictor in 2018, in honor of Steve Cruze, former first mate on the whale watching/fishing vessel “Matt Walsh” (when it was based in Marina del Rey); many passengers on board knew Steve, which made this sighting extra special. This young whale had only been documented on 3 previous occasions, all in a 6 day period in Fall 2018 off Palos Verdes. What a nice way to end our day!
*Photos and trip summary, courtesy of Alisa Schulman-Janiger.
For more on “humpback “Stevie Bubbles”: https://happywhale.com/individual/18674
If you have taken photos of this whale’s fluke, or that of any humpback – please join the thousands of other citizen scientists around the world and submit your images to Happywhale.com!
