News

GRAY WHALE CENSUS UPDATE, Pt. Vicente: 23 Dec.2014: TWENTY GRAYS!, including another calf! Our GRAY WHALE COW/CALF PAIR came into the kelp down below us, so we got great looks at them. The mom fluked a few times. Our whales came in pulses again: twice we were juggling three sightings, and once when we were tracking two sightings. We found one GRAY WHALE sighting when one whale BREACHED. A pod of four whales milled and rolled right down in front of us late in the day; the setting sun turned their white blows pink. It took a while to confirm that there were actually four GRAY WHALES in this group. We also spotted COMMON DOLPHIN, BOTTLENOSE DOLPHIN, and PACIFIC WHITE-SIDED DOLPHIN. -Alisa
Southbound grays — 20
Northbound grays—— 0
Total grays ———– 20
Cow/calves South —- 1 (4 newborns already!)
Total grays (since 1 Dec): 188* (record number of grays for this point in 31 seasons)

Here’s the daily report from the LA-based census for migrating gray whales:

As of 15 DEC 2014

Southbound Today ————— 14
Northbound Today —————- 0
Total Whales Today ————- 14
Southbound Calves Today ——— 0
Northbound Calves Today ——— 0

Season to Date (since 1 Dec 2014)
Southbound ——————— 89
Northbound ———————- 0
Total ————————– 89
Calves South ——————– 0
Calves North ——————– 0

Message from the observers: FOURTEEN GRAY WHALES! All GRAYS were singles, except for one trio. All came within a mile of shore; eight sightings came within a half mile of shore. We were tracking up to four sightings at one time. Nine GRAY WHALES came along the coast and were spotted just above the kelp line, near Rocky Point. The trio came in from offshore, then milled for a short time by the R10 buoy before coming down to “Whale Rock”. Gray whales fluked on all but one sighting. We tracked two FIN WHALES that came within a mile of shore, and we may have seen a MINKE WHALE. We also spotted COMMON DOLPHIN and PACIFIC WHITE-SIDED DOLPHIN.

We received the report we always love to hear–the first gray whale arrived on December 7!

GRAY WHALE CENSUS UPDATE, Pt. Vicente: 8 Dec. 2014. SIX MORE GRAY WHALES: all large adults! First came a trio of frequently fluking GRAY WHALES. One split from the group, and another whale turned around and back-tracked to it; then they all rejoined and came so close to shore that we could hear their blows. One of them lifted its head high on one surfacing. The next two GRAY WHALES came by about fifteen minutes apart; one passed about a mile offshore, and the other came within a half mile offshore. Whales in three of our four GRAY WHALE sightings fluked up. We tracked a pair of FIN WHALES that passed us about four miles offshore, until they disappeared into our sun line.We also spotted COMMON DOLPHIN and BOTTLENOSE DOLPHIN. Our day ended with a series of three great green flashes, with the last one turning blue as the sun set behind Santa Barbara Island. -Alisa
Southbound grays – 6
Northbound grays — 0
Total grays ———– 6

As reported by ACS-LA: “Very sad news. The deceased orca in Georgia Strait found earlier today is 18-year old J32, Rhapsody, according to photos sent by Canada’s Dept. of Fisheries and Oceans and identified by Ken Balcomb at the Center for Whale Research. J32 was thought by many to be in the late stages of pregnancy last summer. A necropsy Saturday will reveal if she was indeed pregnant and hopefully the cause of death. A recent generous grant by the Milgard Foundation will allow Ken Balcomb to attend and assist in the necropsy.
J32’s mother was J20, who died in 1998 when Rhapsody was only 2 years old. She was raised by her aunt, J22 Oreo. She is survived by J22 and her cousins J34 Doublestuf and J38 Cookie, leaving only three survivors of the former J10 matriline, and only 77 members of the Southern Resident Community.
We cannot express how tragic this loss is for this struggling, precariously small, family of resident orcas of the Salish Sea.”

The census watch began on December 1 and volunteers are staffing the LA-based station. Below is their report for December 3! (Census Director Alisa Schulman-Janiger. )

GRAY WHALE CENSUS UPDATE, Pt. Vicente.3 Dec 2014. SIX grays: a big count for early in our season, despite intermittent rain throughout the day that made spotting and tracking cetaceans a bit difficult. Right after we spotted our first gray whale at 6:40 am, we found a pair of grays just outside of our shoreline kelp bed; they both fluked, and left our viewing field within ten minutes. The next pair of gray whales was a little further off shore; both fluked.Our sixth gray whale passed us three miles offshore; we did not find it until it was almost to Whale Rock (past transect). We also spotted bottlenose dolphin, common dolphin, and Pacific white-sided dolphin.
Southbound grays – 6
Northbound grays — 0
Total grays ———— 6

Most people heard the news about Hurricane Odile hitting Baja California with unprecedented winds and rainfall, causing widespread damage and power/internet outages. Cabo San Lucas was directly in the hurricane’s path and sustained incredible damage, including the airport which had to be closed. There is some good news on the recovery and rebuilding process, summarized here by Pete Thomas: http://www.petethomasoutdoors.com/2014/09/cabo-san-lucas-recovery-update-airport-to-reopen-saturday-hotels-to-reopen-beginning-oct-1.html.

We have been in communication (just brief emails) with our dear friends in Laguna San Ignacio. They were also very challenged by the wind and incredible rainfall, cutting off travel between the lagoon and town–their source of fresh water and food. We were happy to learn this week that the news is improving there as well. No people and no significant structures were harmed during the storm. They are dealing with heavy water flow coming out of the arroyos into the lagoon and travel disruptions, but vehicles were able to get through and get needed supplies. We are, of course, asking regularly what we can do to help and support them. And after they have time to re-group, we hope to do just that…help our eco-tourism partners and friends recover and host whalewatchers again this winter!

If you’ve visited some of Baja’s remote locations and islands with us, you have seen the incredible beauty created by major flooding events–huge sandy arroyos, steep canyons, lagoons, estuaries, rock formations, plant life adapted to intermittent rainfall, and more. Hurricane Odile will surely leave her mark as well. We are looking forward to visiting these areas again in 2015 to enjoy the work of nature and share it with our passengers. Our thoughts and prayers remain with our neighbors as they deal with the aftermath.

Our September 1-5 US pelagic birding tour is filling up rapidly. Let us know if you’d like to reserve a spot soon and have your chance to see a Craveri’s murrelet!

(Photo by Larry Schott)

…but already excited for  2015 tours!

We were pretty pleased to review an early edition of this book by friend Dr Jim Sumich. Some passengers’ photos were used in it and the information is SO updated. Highly recommend for $10.