News
from Observation Post #7
Thanks to Michael H. Smith, here are highlights from the site of Gray Whales Count, which began the 2009 counting season that runs Feb. 2 through May 17:
May
17:The fog came in slowly over the last hour with the curtain
closing on our fifth season at Counter Point at 5 p.m. Unfortunately,
we saw no whales on the final day of this year’s Count.
We all learned a great deal about our particular part of the
ocean,
the animals
in and around the water, the impact of weather, and how May 14: Today we were shutout again by the whales. Our total remains 540 gray whales, with 38 calves. The seas were a mess in the Channel in front of us. Two swells were opposing each other and as wind waves crossed, the peaks blew up in spray. It didn't didn't cause us to lose focus, but it didn't help either. All the Counters were intent on finding a calf or calves as an indication that more may have been born this year. We still have hope for our final three days, and we are glad the Piedras Blancas group will be on-station for twelve days past our close. May 13: The wind was not too strong, less than forecast. The haze affected our observation quality. Even so, it was nice on Counter Point, and we are hoping that the firefighters continue to get a break controlling the fire that is now 80% contained, with no homes in danger at this time. Although we did not see any gray whales today, we did find two otters in the kelp and enjoyed several passes of bottlenose dolphins. May 12: No fog; and gale warnings made us a bit apprehensive about the remains of the fire. So far, so good. The wind was not strong where we were, and we are hoping it was the same in the mountains. We counted a gray whale cow/calf pair just before 11:00. Season total is now 540 gray whales, 38 calves, with five days left to Count. May 11: We are still putting up with (and loving) fog. For most of the day we had poor visibility but a good opening in front of us and very calm seas. . . At 4:00 we saw our first whale blow. We tracked the single, young, gray whale across Counter Point and through the buoys to the west. It was our only whale of the day. Season totals: 538 gray whales, 37 calves. May 10: The mothers with calves took a deserved day off on Mothers' Day, a good ol' foggy day in the Santa Barbara Channel. We truly like fog (now [after the raging wildfires]). Yes, visibility was bad, but for most of the day we could see at least a mile and that is OK at this time in the migration. We counted a single, gray whale about 10:40. May 9: Fog covered the ocean this morning. It was not picturesque and it created very bad observation quality and we could not have been happier. Before 11:00 we heard the fire was 30% contained and that many people were going to be able to return to their homes. Hallelujah! And, in spite of poor quality for our survey, in the first hour we entered sightings of four sea otters, a cow/calf pair of gray whales, and much more. . . May 8: Smoke covered the ocean this morning. The fire is very much with us. (For up-to-date fire coverage go to the Independent.) The good news is that through the smoke we sighted a pair of gray whales. We knew there were two and that the second was likely a calf. We could not actually see te calf, though, just the poofy blow. We were getting a bit anxious when they moved to the kelp west of us where they stopped and the little one stuck its head up and looked around. More than once. Then the two whales headed back along the kelp going east. May 7: The wind was slightly better today, and we were able to stay on effort most of the day. At this time (6:22 p.m.) the fire situation is not as bad as the wind explosion yesterday. Unfortunately, some learned the fate of their homes and neighborhoods. It was all too often tragic. This has been and continues to be awful. On Counter Point some dedicated, committed Counters gave it their all, but were unable to sight a single cetacean today. No whales (and no calves); no dolphins. The good news is that we did note two sea otters in the kelp to our east. May 6: We found three otters on the Isla Vista kelp this morning. Perhaps, they were seeking a hold-fast in the high winds that continue to blast our area. We managed to hold on ourselves for only two-plus hours. Another very short day. We did, however, see a northbound gray whale that acted every bit "the cow" of a cow/calf pair: the same slow, halting pace along the kelp, then inside the buoys along Sands toward Ellwood. However, we saw no evidence of a second whale, let alone a calf. It was not the best observation quality, but we got good looks and were able to track the whale all the way across Counter Point. May 5: This was taken from La Cumbre shopping center in Santa Barbara about fifteen minutes after the fire erupted. We had two devastating fires in the foothills last year. The huge wind that knocked us off Counter Point at 1:20 is driving the fire at many houses and threatens extremely valuable watershed. In addition to the three whales, we saw a sea otter in the Isla Vista kelp.
May 4: The wind will not let up, but we were able to to survey through the morning, before the bigger blow. It is truly frustrating. All the Counters are anxious not seeing calves. Our inability to conduct the survey adds a layer of frustration over the concern about the fires. Today: 3.8 hours at Counter Point and no whales. May 3: May Third was not the charm this time. We could not start until 11:45 because fog cut our view to just the sand in front of us. When fog cleared, we saw the wind line beyond Platform Holly that enveloped us about 1:30. Other than some boats (not many) two sea otters were all we were able to see in the very short day 1.77 hours). May
2: A day of twos: May 2 ... 2 otters ... 2 dolphins
.... 2 gray whales (one calf) ... too much wind (2 hours
counting) ... May 1: It is no fun having nothing to count, and it is difficult realizing the implictions. Yet, that is a reason we are on Counter Point: to detect problematic situations as they are occurring. In 2007 we hada very low calf count, and we are well behind that pace. Through May 1, 2007 we had counted 44 calves; today we finished with 33 calves. We must say, though, this calf was fun. It was the most calf-like we have seen this year and it was all over the place, up-and-down, and over-and-under. Both the cow and calf were at the surface a lot in their slow travel past us. Yes, we were hoping more would follow even as we played this sighting over in our minds. April 28: The patterns continue: wind and not many calves (now 29 for the season). Our only whales, one gray-whale cow/calf pair hurried along, perhaps with the thought of beating the approaching wind. The calf fell behind a couple of times, but was alongside as they left our area. April 27: We are always ready, willing, and able to start the Count early for a gray-whale cow/calf pair. Today we accommodated them by opening a minute early at 08:59 with cheers. We have not yet seen a rush of calves and, after today, we are still anticipating a waterway crowded with whales. Our second pair of the day was identified just before 2:00. Like the first, with the exception of a few stops and starts, the whales were steadily, if not speedily, on their way. Season total so far: 515 northbound, including 28 calves. April 26: The sun was shining and there was not much wind in the morning. Our pair of gray whales (no calf) moved quite rapidly across our vantage. We tracked them well inside Platform Holly and outside the oil-barge buoys. Unfortunately, the wind and waves continued to get bigger and we were forced to close the Count for the day just before 4:00. April 25: It was mostly warm, mostly not windy, but heat waves and haze affected visibility. However, we do not think it was much of a problem as the whales are traveling close to Counter Point these days. We saw three gray whale cow/calf pairs in the morning along with a sea otter. We truly enjoyed that Bob Perry’s Master Class from Malibu High School spent a significant portion of the day with us. They have been following our progress and the entire migration thanks to the invaluable Journey North reports. Today was their first field-work at Counter Point! The
oil barge arrived and secured between the buoys a half-mile
west of Counter Point. We tracked a single gray whale that
unhesitatingly moved across our position and entered the
buoy April 24: We could not see blows in the gray overcast. After three yesterday, we counted 0 today. April
23: The more things change ... Last year was a very
different year from this year, and yet we have almost exactly
the same number of calves Counted in
2009 as 2008 on this date. Our one gray-whale calf today actually
gave us one more for this year than last year. And, we are
still expecting a surge in the coming weeks. Whales four and five arrived sort of together but one was close to shore and the other about a half-mile offshore. Our cow/calf pair appeared unannounced just off Counter Point. Mom was big with lots of white spots; the calf was very little and all-gray, like the sea and sky today. April 22: At nine minutes before closing time, a counter shouted "Blow!" In the fog at Campus Point there was, indeed, a blow, then another, and another. It was a play-group of two pairs of gray whales with another following close behind. Each was a cow/calf pair and we all agreed this was a good thing. April 20: It was hot and still — no wind — for most of the day. The heat created some weird optical affects like mirages on water; distorted oil platforms, islands, and ships; and indefinite horizons. The problem of an indefinite horizon affects our ability to read our reticle scale and determine distance for sightings. Our horizon is 6.8 nautical miles from our Counter Point. The northbound shipping lane is ten miles from us, and so the ships that travel in those lanes are beyond our horizon. We can only see the tops, not the bottoms at the waterline. Today, however, we could see entire ships, including the waterline. Actually, it appeared to us that the horizon was a significant distance beyond the ships. Crazy. The result was that at times, we could see a long ways, but we were not always certain if we could believe what we were seeing. We did see a cow/calf pair of gray whales right after our start. April 19: In the afternoon we had some good sightings of gray whales, including a single just before noon and a group of three, composed of a cow/calf pair with a juvenile. Later we saw a shy, young gray whale with a white head and later still a big whale that disappeared as it passed the Point. April
18: It was a very beautiful day in the Santa Barbara Channel,
but no whales! April 16: Some counting, some whales, four dolphins, an otter, and relentless wind. When it is 4 on the Beaufort scale as we start, we know it will be a short day. We left after 3 hours 15 minutes. Our whales included a gray whale cow/calf pair and at least a pair of humpbacks just over two miles out in the very choppy seas. April
14: The Condor Express traveled all
over the nearshore looking for a whale on the 9 AM whale-watching
trip from Santa
Barbara. The seas were good. There was some haze, but sunny
and warm. Both the captain of the boat and I were glad
that the forecast
gale-force winds were nowhere in sight. After two hours,
they finally found a whale about five miles from our
Counter Point. Not long after we saw the blow, but the
animal was too far away
to see the body for an ID. The captain called and said it
was a gray whale. We were excited and waited, calm at
first. We knew
the whale was heading our way, and the wind still seemed
a ways from us. April 13: We had to be careful because humpback whales were all over the nearshore again today. A pair at the end of the day turned out to be big gray whales that ran our count to a dozen in essentially three sightings. April 12: Easter. The Counters were surprised to find two gray whales in our kelp basket this morning. (It is a very big basket.) Fittingly, they were a cow/calf pair. For the occasion, the little one wore a white spot on its dorsal ridge. Splendid. April 10: Today we counted alittle one who imitated the kelp monster, draping in the stuff. Mom seemed to like something in there too as they both were in and out of the kelp for an hour. That was it for our gray whale show. April 9: No dolphins and we could not find a sea otter. Just whales this Thursday. And, the whales were all gray whales (10), including four new to the migration process. April 8: We are past the peak of whales rushing by and into the valley before the cow/calf pairs steadily move past our site. Today we counted our seventh calf, 444th northbound, gray whale for the season. April 6: We have talked about our survey as a sample. We count
for eight hours of a day and the migration goes 24/7. We have
also talked about whales traveling in pulses or waves, spread
out groups of groups. Today, during our watch, no gray whales
were identified. However, because we recorded a zero does not
mean that no whales migrated (or are migrating) through the Santa
Barbara Channel this day. April 5: Our first northbound gray whale blew just past Campus Point at eleven past three. Our second broke the surface along the kelp east of Counter Point (our shiny, new moniker for not-so-sparkling Coal Oil Point) at seven before five. Two gray whales on a day of very good overall observation quality. Hmmm. We are expecting an injection of whales as cow/calf pairs start lining up. That's what we hope. April 4: There were lots of visitors to our Counter Point, as it has been dubbed. Coal Oil Point is such an unappealing name, and it is hard to say. (Say it three times. See?) In the morning we were intrigued by a pair of northbound gray whales. They behaved like a cow/calf pair, but the little one stayed too close to the big whale and in the chop could not be seen well enough to make the call. April 3: Most of the time we couldn't see very well, but the wind in the morning was largely (truly large) outside, two miles out. Even so, there was not a lot to count. A half-dozen bottlenose dolphins splashed past us, just before we saw a pair of gray whales also heading west. In the huge swell, waves, and foam, we could not see if the second whale was a calf. We had to stop the Count at 2:30 because of gale-force winds. April 2: It was cold and dark and foggy/hazy and windy, but we still had many quality gray whales to Count, including another calf. The oil barge had arrived as we started the Count and was soon in place between the buoys. The cow/calf pair seemed to hang in the kelp before the buoys, and then continued on between the shore and buoys which is a preferred route for calves. April 1: At 10:30 we saw the first blows of a cow/calf pair at Campus Point. From there we could not be sure, but we got to spend a lot of time with them and appreciate both of them. They passed the Point and headed along the kelp and Sands Beach, inside the buoys. There the calf made five mini-breaches. Terrific. We counted two groups of three gray whales traveling about two hours apart. Both groups of grays were likely younger whales, and there was not much interaction between the individuals. In tracking the second pair, we were not certain how many animals were in the group. Finally, a third whale popped up between two at the surface, and we shouted in unison: Three! March
31: We were confused by whales that were not calves yet
behaving like calves and continuing along the kelp and waves
beyond Coal Oil Point. We were also confused by a single gray
whale that managed to merge with a pair and become a threesome
that had us looking for whales that weren't there. And, because
we know sometimes babies are on board, we took care to give every
body a good look. March 30: First calf! And 19 other northbound whales, 11 of which came in the final hour we were on duty. March
28: It was a beautiful, shirtsleeve day for us sit around
and wait for a calf that did not come. We had two sightings of
northbound gray whales. The first was three large whales that
wasted no time passing Coal Oil Point. They had long (nine minute)
downtimes and big blow with big flukes from one of the whales. March
27: The game was still on: Hide-and-go-north. Just before 11:00
a little gray whale raised its blowhole and squirted a
peculiar
blow, then dropped down next to the kelp. Several minutes later
we caught a back, and that was that. Through almost the rest
of the day we saw an osprey, our first migrating Pacific loons,
two otters, and lots of hazy sky and
sea. Well after 4:00, we sighted our second gray whale from blows
backlit by the late-afternoon sun. In the sun path we saw one
more blow, and considered ourselves lucky. March 26: We put in extra time because the whale we sighted just before 5:00 could have been a cow/calf pair. We saw the pair three times more and knew it was not a cow/calf pair, but a pair of gray whales on their journey north through windy waters. We spent most of the day in 20-plus knots of wind. (Of course the windboarders had a blast!) March 25: Hide-and-go-north is the new game our whales are playing. We found them in the kelp, along the kelp, under pelican splashes and in front of, behind, and outside other whales. Sometimes they even looked like something they were not. In the morning we saw a very small gray whale. It lifted it's head and posed with a baleeny grin. No one had a camera ready, but we won't forget the image. The whale had a lot of barnacles and we think it may have been a yearling making its first solo, keeping ever so close to the kelp, stirring the two otters napping not so far away. We saw three whales in the first four hours: Perhaps the whales were winning the game. But At Three-thirty it was -- apparently -- all-in-free because seven whales, three pairs and a single, stampeded north into the sparkling sun path, while observers scrambled to document the event. Today was hump-day. At 1 PM we passed the halfway point in the survey, which began Feb. 2. March 24: It was a laid-back, southern California kind of day. Everything was kinda slow, but we had 11 whales for the day. March 23: This was a remarkable 17-whale day. One of the surprises was identifying killer whales through the spotting scope. Everybody, including some visitors to the site, got great looks of the distant, biggest members of the dolphin family. We had already seen a lot of gray whales heading west, and the killer whales were not too far offshore. March 22: Huge wind with white-caps roaring like so many lions. No Counting today. March 16: We averaged just about two whales an hour; that's the way averages work, but that is not the way whales work. We had three at the opening, nine in the first hour. There were two more the second hour (average) and another in the third hour. At 2:30 we caught a pair; at 3:45, a single; and our last whale snuck up on us at 4:55 for 16 total today. March
21: We greeted the first day of spring with umbrellas. It was
raining and visibility was less than 1 mile. We posted a Time
Out. March 20: Two northbound gray whales on a full day at this date is strange, but it may more to do with the very poor visibility — fog, drizzle in the morning, more fog, no contrast, no horizon— bad. March 21: Today, we saw one whale.Perhaps it was the one from Santa Barbara Harbor, which has left. Three cheers!!! On to Alaska!" March
19: F O G March 15: The first of our 10 gray whales appeared as we were setting up. Glad it was close and we happened to be looking because that is all we saw. It was enough, though. We figured it was a young whale, perhaps a yearling, not so sure of the way and hanging very close to shore. A half hour later we saw a pair further out. They seemed to know the way to San Jose and beyond. After they were well past us, the Condor caught up with them and they (the whales) had just about caught up to our first whale (the young one). Later in the morning we saw a single that we tracked for a long time. As we tracked that one, another whale popped up really close and we entered # 277. In the afternoon, we saw two otters in the usual position in the kelp to our left and a third, close, just left of the Point. About that time, we saw an elephant seal pup crawling onto the sand, also on the left side of Coal Oil Point. One of our five Counters who also volunteers for the Marine Mammal Center made the call and assisted in the rescue. Apparently, this is the 25th seal pup in the last ten days to have landed on a local beach, and there have been no repeaters. The usual procedure is to capture the animal, take it back to the Center for a check-up and nourishment, and then release the seal on a not-populated beach on the Gaviota coast. This pup looked to be in pretty good shape, and because he is being well-cared for, he has a good chance to make on his own. We wish him well. This afternoon we saw two pairs and a single. The whales had to face a charge of common dolphins. A thousand or so dolphins splashed, leaped, and fed no more than 1.25 miles from our counting site. That’s close for common dolphins. March 14: We counted 15 magnificent gray whales migrating north through the nearshore of the Santa Barbara Channel. The pelicans paused their frantic diving and watched the gray whales, like us, from shore. The two otters took it lying down in the kelp. March 13: Friday the Thirteenth was lucky for those on the 1300 shift. Between 1 PM and 3, they saw 14 whales, counting nine northbound gray whales. The other five were humpbacks. The gray whales included a group of five, blowing smoke signals from east to west. Just before they crossed in front of Platform Holly, from our vantage, it appeared the crossed paths with the humpbacks. They were probably more than a quarter mile apart, but it looked like a lot of whales in one place to us. March 12: It was a huge day for Gray Whales Count; not just that we counted 11 northbound gray whales; more for the 400 or so we will count in the coming weeks and the many more that will pass through our corridor in the nearshore of the Santa Barbara Channel when we are not counting. We have begun a new phase of the project: acoustic monitoring >>. March 11: For the third day in a row, six or so bottlenose dolphins "swam" with gray whales exhibiting mating behavior. Today, we had two pairs of whales with a dolphin entourage. In the morning we counted three singles that were difficult to spot and almost impossible to track in the poor observation quality. (Maybe that's why the dolphins didn't stray too far from the whale exhibition.) Late in the day we caught a distant group of three gray whales that obligingly showed high flukes for identification. March 9: Lately,
we have been thinking about "peak day" (the
day when the most whales are Counted during a day). Of course,
that is not necessarily the day the most whales come through
the Channel, and today is a great example. It might have might
have been that day. We only counted fifteen northbound gray whales.
That was all we could see and identify. March 8: We saw zero sea otters today. Perhaps they fled because of the rumble of whales going by — 29 in all! We always had more than one group of whales in front of us except for a lull from 1:35 to 2:45 ... siesta? There was a group of five that was sometimes two groups, one of three, one of two. All the rest were singles, pairs, and one other trio. A lot of sightings, a lot of whales. The sightings spanned our range, which is from the kelp to, on good days, four nautical miles. We could not see four miles with ease today because of haze and low contrast. Later in the afternoon, the wind came up a touch and cleared the air. March
7: Sunshine,
calm seas, and wonder, as in “wonderful” and “wonder
why.” 23 Whales! We got our full-day-plus
because the weather gave us a break and, again, we had whales
as we were setting up. Tracking was
going fine until the final entry of each sighting: Did the animal(s)
go “outside” of Platform Holly or “inside” (between
the oil platform and the shoreline)? For this pair we entered "not
determined” because the whales were not sighted again. They
disappeared. March 5: We were short on day, long on whales (21 today!). Two
were waiting for us when we arrived. We were able to track them
for a bit, set up the table, etc., and work on the the next whale.
We were ready; we saw it; we couldn't find it again. March
3: The event of the day was a whale, hanging
around Santa Barbara Harbor. Last year a whale did that
for almost three weeks.
Unfortunately, it is not a very good place for the whale
to be. March 2: We are anticipating the "rush"of whales. We do notice that it takes a while to reach 100 gray whales traveling north. Now in the midst of this migration, we are wondering if our peak will be moved up from March 22 (peak for the past two years) and if the calves will start their northward swim before April. Today we saw two whales in which the little one swam for a short distance with its head up and took more breaths than the larger whale— as a calf might. But we were not totally convinced it was a calf. So we recorded it as two gray whales, calves not determined. Feb.
24: We saw today's first northbound gray whale minutes
after we opened the Count. A lot was going on. The Venoco oil
barge was being positioned between
the buoys a half-mile west of Coal
Oil Point. Two tugs pull and push it into place, very near the
shore — and in the path of migrating gray whales. We regularly
note if whales pass outside the buoys that frame the filling
process, or inside (between the buoys and shore, or through the
buoys). Mothers and calves, which are not expected for weeks
yet, often travel between the buoys and shore, and several whales
have been tracked through the buoys. Very few have been noted
as going through the buoys while the barge is in place. The barge
is huge! Our
whale was blowing regularly until it got into the area of the barge,
and we did not see the whale again. Feb. 23: After lunch we got a peek at our first, stealth gray whale as it popped up next to the kelp west of us. That was that last time we saw it. Forty minutes later, just east of the Point, we saw blows, got a good look at the body, then nothing. These two did their best to hide, but 2:45, perhaps three miles east of Coal Oil Point, we saw blows. This whale was trackable. We noted blows and flukes of this five-miles-per-hour gray whale as it passed by the Point and for two more miles to the west as it headed north. Feb. 21: Big day! In the morning we counted two pairs of northbound gray whales, maybe 300 common dolphins, and two humpback whales that approached within one mile of us, quite close for humpbacks. In the middle of the day we counted one group of three, a pair, and two singles. Finally, our last gray whale, also northbound, may have been accompanied, but we could not be sure, so we recorded a single. Feb. 20: We Counted three pairs and two single, gray whales northbound today for a total of eight whales. One pair was a bit unusual. It looked like two yearlings making their first trip north without mothers. The strange thing was that they were very close together, as if "holding hands," as they swam by our position. One kept its head above the surface for long distances, almost calf-like. They seemed to be in good hands, though, doin' just fine. The surf was pretty big today, and surfers got some nice rides on both sides of Coal Oil Point. Feb. 18: it was eight plus a mystery whale — all gray whales traveling north. The mystery whale was sighted at 16:09 (4:10 PM). An observer saw with naked eye to the east of us, a blow next to the kelp, then with binoculars, saw the body. It was a gray whale, seemingly heading north. (It was pointed west.) There was very little wind, and nothing broke the calm surface in our direction. Then at 16:43, two observers saw the gray whale dive in our direction from almost the same location and we never saw the whale surface again. We can only conclude it was feeding, but we cannot say whether it was north or southbound. So, it was not added to the Count. Feb. 17: We saw a string of four blows about 12:30 that turned out to be five whales: a trio leading two singles to bring our total of gray whales northbound to seven for the day. Feb.
15: Opening the site, observers are trained to
look to the west to see if a whale might have just passed our point
as we are setting up. As we start the Count, observers then look
to the east the direction we hope to see northbound whales heading
towards us. Feb. 14: We had blows at opening time. It was one at first, then we knew it was at least two. There were thoughts it might be three in the group, but after tracking the whales as far as we could, we determined it was two whales. A while later the Condor Express, a whale-watching boat from Santa Barbara, caught up with the three whales. Yes, three! We made a note on the datasheet, but kept the number at the two we sighted. Alas, it is part of surveying. Through dedicated research, NOAA has determined that shore-based surveys underestimate group size and they account for this in analysis. So, that third whale will be accounted for. The weather has been hard on us and next week we are threatened with a bigger, more prolonged storm. Feb. 12: Steady wind and no whales. Only a half day of watching. Feb. 11: A big day for gray whales. That, however, does not tell the story. When we started it was pretty dark with calm seas. We could see pretty well—but then it started to rain. We hung in because it was a light rain with very little wind and there was enough light to see—until the foggy rain began. Just after noon we called Time Out and sought shelter. Then, at about 1:30 the rain stopped, and there was no wind. We could see, so we began to count. Right away more were bottlenose dolphins came to lift our soggy spirits. At 2:15 we caught a glimpse of a shy, little gray whale, headed west (north). It was down for 11 minutes, and we thought we had lost it when it turned into two whales, blowing. Later, about 3 miles out, we saw some pretty big blows. The spotting scope confirmed humpback whales! There were three in all, arriving in the Santa Barbara Channel before Valentine's Day! More blows: a gray whale pair sharing Valentine thoughts as they continued north passing outside oil Platform Holly, 2 miles offshore. A large group (maybe 75) of sea lions passed the whales in the opposite direction. A little further east we saw Pacific white-sided dolphins. We don't see them very often, and we enjoyed the moment. Then someone spotted a long, long line of splashing. At least 1,000 common dolphins were rapidly moving in the direction of the humpback whales. Then a pair of amorous gray whales rolled north with a surrounding entourage of more Pacific white-sided dolphins. In a year of firsts, this was an out-of-place, early February experience. Feb. 10: Before the wind blew us away, we saw a trio of gray whales — but heading south. Five otters were in the kelp to our east, and maybe they are rebuilding Otterville. It will be fun to watch the development. Feb. 9: The pouring rain was blown away, revealing a very beautiful scene of snow on the bright green mountains and a rainbow nestled in the Goleta foothills. Unfortunately, the ocean was a mess: white with foam. Gale force winds kept us from Counting. Feb. 5, 6, 7: ZERO sightings. Lots of rain! Feb 4: About 9:40 we saw what we thought was a southbound gray whale. Then it was a northbound gray whale with two blows, a fluke, and down. Next time up it was pointing east, meaning it was going south. Next time is was headed west (northbound). Then it appeared to be going right at us, heading north. Back and forth, all around. Finally, at 10:45, it decided to migrate north. We think it might have been feeding. We don't see this behavior off the kelp very often; it might be a first. Feb. 3: About 1:15 p.m. we saw a blow and quick fluke from a young whale traveling alone about three hundred meters off shore. And, just before 5:00, a bigger, more mature whale demonstrated the two-blow-and-fluke [breath, breath, dive] rhythm like a master. Feb. 2, 2009: Right in front, twelve minutes into Day 1, we saw our first gray whale heading north. Last year it took us 17 days to see our first northbounder. The sea lions seemed excited too. There were perhaps two hundred, scattered around in small groups, some escorting the whale.
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A
kite surfer likes the windy day at Coal Oil Point!
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