Hello all,
Our conditions have been less than perfect so far this trip, with big seas and strong winds. We made it out to San Clemente island yesterday evening and had very difficult conditions. Our sightings were good until lunch time. We had sooty and pink-footed shearwaters, black-footed albatross, black storm petrel, Sabines gulls, and Arctic tern. We didn’t see any marine mammals yesterday which was a disappointment.
We anchored in Pyramid Cove last night and then headed east today with 30 knot winds and 8 foot seas. Thankfully we were going the same direction as the sea and swell ,so it made for a comfortable ride. We weren’t able to turn on any birds or whales, so we looked at whatever came by.
We had several shearwaters and storm petrels–both black and leach’s. A south polar skua was the bird of the day! We did see several short-beaked common dolphin and as we approached the Coronado Islands, we saw a few Rissos dolphin and some bottlenose dolphins.
We toured the Coronado Islands and saw oystercatchers, brown boobys, double crested, brandts and pelagic comorants, and hundreds of juvenile brown pelicans. In the pinnipeds, we saw northern elephant seal, harbor seal and Californina sea lion.
We have high hopes for tomorrow, with the forecast calling for less wind and swell. We will go west of the Coronado Islands and then northwest towards the nine mile bank in hopes of seeing dolphins and whales that we can actually stop and look at.
More tomorrow,
Capt Art
