News
from Observation Post #7 Meet Michael H. Smith of Gray Whales Count! See the view and join the whale watchers at that counting point with the feature video clip "Waiting for Whales" from the Ventura County Star newspaper. It's almost as good as being there! Here are highlights from some of Michael's reports at the Gray Whales Count site: May
11: On
this final day of the Count, we were able to wish a bottlenose
dolphin "Happy Mothers' Day" as she escorted
her calf past the Point with a dozen or so of her friends and
family. May
10: We
Counted our 59th calf. It was not a good year, so far, for
calves. We do hope more are coming and
that
they will be noted by Wayne Perryman and the Piedras Blancas group.
Two, northbound, gray-whale cow/calf pairs reminded us: "We
aren't done yet." May 9: Zero whales! We are approaching the end of our survey. Sunday (Mother's Day, May 12) is our last day on the Point for this year. We do expect to have some zero days at the end. Even so, we want more calves to be coming by. If we can manage five calves over the weekend, it will be a 15 percent increase from last year. While it is not up to where it might be, that is pretty OK. And, while we are closing, Pt. Piedras Blancas, NOAA's official calf estimation site, will remain open for another two weeks. We hope they see some good numbers. May 7: Our morning gray whale cow/calf pair was reticent, and now wonder: they were advancing towards the buoys with the oil barge being maneuvered into place. Yes, the oil barge. It was here last Friday and back again today. Needless to say, we did not cheer its arrival. Our cheers were reserved for the gray whales. We have now seen more whales in one year (635) than in our previous years of Counting — and we have barely surpassed the low calf-count of last year. Both good. May 6: With five days to Count, we have tied some finishes. 2006 has been our best of the three previous years, and today we Counted our 633rd northbound gray whale. It was one of three that we sighted at about 4:30 — two large whales and a calf. Actually, one was quite big, with a medium-sized whale, and a very little guy. The little one was our 52nd calf of this year. It ties our very low calf-count last year. The good news is that there are five days left for us. And, even though we will conclude our Count on Sunday, May 11, Wayne Perryman's group in Piedras Blancas will be working for two more weeks to catch more of this late migration. May 5: Today there were more visitors to Otterville. We counted twenty-seven residents plus a gray whale calf from our first cow/calf pair of the day, sighted in the kelp about 11:30. We had two other pairs, one at one and the final pair at four-thirty. Our calf total for the year is now at fifty. Climbing... May 3: Eleven whales today. As we were tracking our first whale, a single northbound gray whale, we spotted four humpbacks 2.5 miles out in the haze. Our remaining six whales were all cow/calf gray whale pairs. The first (12:40) traveled directly across the Point to some kelp just right of us. The mother and calf began to move in and out and around the kelp. A second pair caught up and it was playtime with lots of rolling, spyhops by adults and children, and some mini-breaches. The whales slowly moved west and along the waves inside the buoys. For 40 minutes the four whales played in the surf and nearshore before slowly heading west toward Point Conception. Our third pair, our final whales of the day were sighted in the kelp to the east just before three. They must have disturbed the kelp beneath Otterville because all the otters made quick dives. May 2: The calves continue to pass by. We Counted four gray whale calves among nine northbound whales today. Our first pair was there when we were, so we started five minutes early. We tracked the pair through the buoys where hours before the oil barge and assorted support vessels were positioned. Fortunately, the filling was completed and the vessels gone, so this pair had only the buoy arrangement to dodge. They managed skillfully. We sighted our second pair before noon. We don't know how these whales negotiated the buoys because a fast moving vessel passed over the mother and calf right as they approached the buoys. The whales surfaced, blew, and disappeared, safe, but probably shaken. The third and fourth pairs plus a juvenile came at us as a unit: five whales. The whales slowly, but not showily cruised by us. They chose to travel inside the buoys (between the buoys and the shore), and then hang out in the waves: rolling, breaching, and seeming to enjoy their time in this special place. May 1: We had the highest calf count for a day since April 2006. True, last year was a disaster; and we are still not up to last year's pace, but it was exciting to see five cow/calf pairs today. Our first pair of northbound, gray whales was at 10:40 with the second and third pretty much together, an hour behind. The fourth cow/calf pair arrived about 3:15 and number five was just before 4:00. The fourth and fifth pairs hurried through. Perhaps they wanted to put the oil barge ensemble between the buoys to the west of us behind them April
30: We found our first cow/calf pair of gray whales while
looking at a cow/calf pair of humpbacks. The humpbacks were a
couple miles out but at the same bearing only a quarter mile
from us, gray whales appeared. Actually, the otters probably
saw the whales first because they must have passed right through
or by the otters. April 29: Before the wind scattered Counters just after three, we added three gray whales, including a calf, northbound. The single was a juvenile with very regular "three blows and down" for three to seven minutes. The cow/calf pair followed a half hour behind. In the kelp to the right of Coal Oil Point both animals spyhopped. Not far ahead the massive oil barge, tug, and support vessels filled the buoy arrangement west of our Point. The whales took that look, inhaled, and disappeared. It is not surprising. April 28: No whales today. If the migration truly has been stretched out, these blank days are a bit frustrating. If, on the other hand, this is the winding down of the cow/calf pairs, we are concerned. Gray Whales Count is scheduled to conclude May 11. If a rush of calves begins, we will extend our Count in an effort to get the full picture of this La Niña year migration. April 27: After two and a half days of no whales, it was very exciting to see a northbound, gray-whale cow and calf in the kelp to the east of us, just before one. Almost exactly an hour later, another cow/calf pair was heading west along the kelp towards us. Unfortunately, an unthinking, uncaring boat driver harassed the pair as they attempted to make their way across Coal Oil Point. The whales were forced to turn around three times to avoid the boat. We did get some pictures, and we will file a complaint with NOAA enforcement. This is the same person who has harassed the otters on two previous occasions and again today before the gray whales. After the boat was gone, a third pair of gray whales came by and were able to linger in the kelp for a while before heading west. The calf seemed to enjoy the interlude. They then leisurely proceeded along Sands Beach into the afternoon sun. April 26: For a migration-season that we are thinking is going to be extended, it is a little difficult for us to experience consecutive zero days this early; and, we are falling further behind the dismal, calf pace of a year ago. We don't know what is going on, but this is why we do it. And, we are not done yet. Season totals so far: 577 including 27 calves. April 24: we counted four northbound gray whales: a cow and calf at nine-thirty and, just before the noon whistle, another cow and calf (AKA The Kelp Monster). April 23: No whales in a tad over two hours of observation before the wind shut us down. April 22: Today was one of those days of lower Counts that may be the result of an extended migration. We do think it will seesaw for a longer period, rather than the more "normal" burst of calves charted as a steep incline and decline in daily Counts. Just after 10:00 we saw blows beyond Campus Point to the east. After some back and forth and slow progress along the kelp, we Counted cow/calf pair number twenty-five. Sort of shadowing the pair was a young juvenile about a half-mile outside and a bit behind. That was it for gray whales for us on another day cut short by high winds. April 21: With a cow/calf pair at 10:30 this morning, we have 24 for the year. It is more than last year at this time, but last year was a disaster. In 2007, we Counted less than half as many calves as the year before. We are hopeful, however, for this year. The southbound migration was late; and the La Niña condition has created cooler water in the lagoons of Baja California Sur, Mexico. Many whales traveled further south to Cabo San Lucas and around the corner into the Sea of Cortez. The whales will have farther to travel on the way back, which could spread out and extend the cow/calf phase of the northbound migration. We may have a mix of mature whales with the cow/calf pairs, and it is likely that daily counts of calves will be lower than previous highs, but the phase could last longer, resulting in, perhaps, a "normal" year of successful calf production. April 19: We just had time for our sea otter role call (26 today) before we saw our first whales — a cow/calf pair that showed up in the kelp just to the east of Coal Oil Point. At 10:02, there were blows at Campus Point. The whales lingered a while at Campus Point, and then they slowly made their ways through the kelp and past us, very close and at times in the small waves. The second pair was three whales, including a juvenile that was sometimes close and at other times 15 meters away. Apparently the calf wanted to show us that Gray Whales Count. The calf was obviously counting Counters! The calf then went on to count surfers, birds, buoys, boats, otters, sea lions, and maybe even Snowy Plovers building their nests on Sands Beach. The calf spyhopped, breached, rolled, and mini-breached for more than a mile and a half. The wind, however, "blew out the candle" for us. While it was lit, we saw that the calves are coming. April
18: Lots of whales today! Before the noontime interlude,
we Counted eleven northbound, gray whales. We first tracked a
lone whale, and then back at Campus Point we saw several blows.
It looked like tow groups for gray whales heading towards us
around the kelp. We were surprised to ID the first group as two
humpbacks. This was the closest to the mainland we have seen
them: just over a half-mile off Campus Point. The second group
was close to the first, but they were not humpbacks. They
were three gray whales, composed of two mature whales and
a tag-along juvenile. Not far behind was a group of bottlenose
dolphins, then more gray whales. This was a cow/calf pair with
another cow/calf pair ten minutes behind. The caboose, rambling
along as the fog closed in, was another gray-whale threesome. Yes,
we were disappointed with the weather, and very glad to see the
sun after 2 PM. April 17: In the late afternoon, a wonderful cow/calf pair slowly made its way past Coal Oil Point with the calf anxiously switching sides. A single followed an hour later; and, just before closing, a pair arrived moving at a steady and pretty fast pace. We got big, strong and little blows, and we thought cow/calf. We had some good looks at both whales and the small one showed no calf traits. It was likely a yearling with a gracious, mature whale guiding the journey north. April 16: We had sun, no wind, whales, calves, dolphins, otters, sea lions, and strings of migrating Brants flowing through the air. There were no exotic behaviors; but the calves did bounce along the surface, breaking their mom's smooth, cool breathing rhythm. April 15: We identified a calf to bring our season total to a modest ten. We are hoping that this is the week we are going to see many calves. April 14: For three days in a row, we have Counted three gray whales. Today, the three, single, juvenile, northbound whales played sideshow to the three-ring, humpback circus that came to Coal Oil Point and performed all day long. Gray whales are migrating. Humpbacks are feeding, and they go where the food is or just where they want to go. They also apparently do what they want to do. Our circus was performing for the land-based crowd today: spectacular breaches with huge splashes. Sometimes we would have to pay attention to another species, and the splash would bring us back. It was never one breach; it was a continuum of six, seven, eight breaches in a row. we also had simultaneous breaches and follow-the-leader breaches from a different group. Everybody— at least nine whales from four different groups — got into the act. Maybe the most intriguing whale breached to get our attention, breached again to make sure we were were watching and then raised its tail flukes and slammed them down on the water with a force so strong there was almost as big a slash as the breach. After about fifteen or twenty, it started slapping its huge pectoral fins, and then ripped off twenty more tail slams. Truly magnificent. hat may be more troubling is that there was a lot of oil on the water from the natural seeps. (Follow the link for an in-depth explanation about the second largest oil seeps in the world.) It appeared that several otters were surrounded by oil-brown foam. We know that oil and otter do not mix. Then again, to hang around this place, they must have a way. We hope so. April 13: Our Count was the same as yesterday — three northbound, gray whales — with one little exception: a calf. From about 11:30 to lunch, we tracked the halting, then cruising pair across Coal Oil Point. At 1:00, a young single was making its way north by us at a good pace. It covered two miles in just over twenty minutes. Perhaps the whale was "pushed" by the sound of jet-skis and various sportfishing boats that were out in the warm weather and churning up the calm seas. April 12: We sighted our single gray whales at 10:43, 2:00, and the last one at 2:36. Again, no calves. Because we saw so few calves in 2007, we are concerned — but we also know that the timing has been late this year and La Niña has apparently stretched out the northbound migration to perhaps make the whole process even longer. That is our thinking. Of course, we are anxious even as we try to be patient. April 11: We were able to Count nine northbound, gray whales. The first eight were 2-3 miles out when we sighted them. The ninth whale came around Campus Point and made its way along the kelp and very close to the Point. It was a skinny, mature whale with ribs showing. Perhaps it was traveling closer to shore to feed in some of the kelp beds. The whale has a long journey ahead, and we wish it well. April 7: We think this is the "bridge" time between the peak flow of mature whales and the cow/calf phase. Even so, we are having lots of sightings. In all, we saw fourteen northbound gray whales, including two calves. A highlight was a huge breach by a very big whale just off the Point. Two breaches!! The pair of mature whales were tracked through the buoys where the oil barge is filled. There they did a bit of rolling, apparently oblivious to their surroundings. April 6: We watched the morning commute in Otterville. Our total for the day was twenty-six sea otters. The whales were spread out too. Some were very close, others passed beyond Platform Holly. Some were singles, some pairs, and two trios. One was close but unidentifiable. Another close whale became a pair for us after we saw it turn right, inside the buoys and travel along Sands toward Ellwood Beach. We know this is a cow/calf route, so an experienced Supervisor ran two hundred meters to the walkway-overlook above Sands Beach. There he saw mom off a bit, watching junior do what calves do: play. The calf spyhopped, breached, rolled, and blew little blows. This was our most expressive calf so far, and it started as no calf at all. Counting that calf, our fourth for the year, we tallied a dozen northbound, gray whales. April
5: Three out of the past four days, including today, we have
Counted a gray whale calf. It is happening! They don't make
it easy, though. This calf was sandwiched between a juvenile
and mom. We tracked them from the other side of Campus Point
to just before the buoys, a half mile past Coal Oil Point.
They disappeared there. April 3: We Counted eleven northbound gray whales today. We are now just one whale behind our pace of last year... April 2: BIG DAY. The most of it was — ta-dah — our first calf! It came with fanfare and great anticipation. At 11:20 we saw a big blow at Campus Point and immediately the scope focused on the pair as the little one puffed its blow. There it was! We saw the two whales bonded with the calf on the outside. Occasionally, the young whale bobbed for breath out of sync, but mostly it kept migration time with mom. We held our course and saw nine northbound, gray whales throughout the day, plus a trio of bottlenose dolphins, and more otters in Otterville: at least 22. March 31: We did not see any whales until after 10:30. We tracked the pair for an hour. Fifteen minutes later we were hit with a rush, the biggest we have experienced: sixteen, northbound gray whales in groups of 3, 3, 2, 3, and 5 blew, breached, rolled, and fluked by at various distances from the Point. It was a very fun challenge handled by great observation team. Seven more whales completed our gray-whale sightings of the day, raising our Count above 400. We are still behind last year, but we are closing the gap. March 30: We had a single and a pair of northbound gray whales before we had to abandon our post after just 1.1 hours. Wind. It is unfortunate because we do know that there are still many whales coming through the nearshore in this peak-season run. March 29: We had a single, northbound gray whale at just before ten and a rush between 11:20 and 1:30 with a group of five whales, a pair, a single, another pair, and another single. Our final whale was single at about 3 PM. No calves for us yet. March 28: For the past three days, we have started the day with whales and we have had solid Counts of 22, 25, and, today 21, while averaging just over 4.5 hours per day. Each day we have had calm and warm mornings and frightfully windy afternoons. March 27: Twenty-five northbound gray whales in just under four hours, rushing by against a choppy sea with increasing wind. We thought some whales were behaving like cow/calf pairs, but nothing like a calf appeared to us. It was windy and choppy! March 26: In just over four hours, we observed 22 northbound gray whales, mostly in groups of three, . There were no calves. This whale, part of a group of three, breached seven times right in front of Coal Oil Point.
March 25: A raft of nine otters, wrapped in kelp, were floating just to the east of Coal Oil Point. We were stunned. Most of us had never seen that many otters together in one place outside of Monterey. They may be grabbing a seat to see the gray whale calves cruise by the kelp. They are well positioned, as are we; but we have not yet identified a calf. We reached three hundred with our last group of the day, three more whales that also seemed to be enjoying the road trip north through the Santa Barbara Channel. Thirty-one gray whales, four unidentified whales that were likely humpbacks, nine otters, and a single bottlenose dolphin. A truly wonderful, remarkable day. March 24: The whales chose the nearer-shore route. Beginning at 9 AM, we had wave after wave of whales in groups of 2, 1, 4, 2, 2, 2, 1, 2, 3, 2, and 2. If your calculator is not handy, that is 23 whales before 1:15. We had a half day left and the observation quality was getting better...We finished with twenty-six. It is, indeed, an interesting year. March 22: Today, we set a new record for Gray Whales Count: 41! We did not see a gray whale calf. We had lots of pairs but none appeared to be cow/calf. That great day of our first should come pretty soon. Until then, we will bask in the glow of 41. It is an interesting coincidence to us that on a year that is very different from last year, we broke the previous record of 36 that was set on March 22, 2007. March 20: The observation quality was poor with visibility only 1.5 nautical miles. At one in the afternoon we could see to Platform Holly, 1.7 nautical miles off the Point, and at three we figured we could see two nautical miles out. Even so, we were seeing whales. The early-morning sighting was a pair. At eleven thirty we had a single and just before one, a group of four showed up. We tracked them for almost an hour and they passed just inside the oil platform. We waved good-bye and a single appeared. We tracked it closer to shore and through the buoys to the west. An hour later we had a pair and a single, followed by another pair at three fifteen that brought our total to thirteen for the day. We didn't know the day was just getting started; In the next hour and a quarter, at least thirteen whales more gray whales tumbled and blew and fluked and blew and rolled and breached blew past the Point, for 26 in all! The Condor Express was in the midst. Their passengers wanted to see whales, and whales they saw: a splendid show of an abundance of gray whales, demonstrating amazing behaviors while migrating north. Welcome to spring in the Santa Barbara Channel! March 19: Most of the whales today became visible right in front or even past Coal Oil Point. The observation team did an excellent job of finding them and determining the size of the groups before they got away. In all we had twelve gray whales heading north, including the late foursome that played through the Point March 18: The day was so nice without wind, we took extra time to track our last-minute gray whale as it moved west through the Channel on its journey north. We also had a single at the opening. In between we had another single and a gang of five that caught our attention with two breaches about two and a half miles out. We easily tracked the group for almost an hour and a half as they passed outside Platform Holly and continued into the afternoon sun. (The further out they are, the longer we get to track them.) They were probably enjoying each other's company as they continually moved west. March 17: Seventeen on the 17th! While on the Point, we had whales in front of us all the time. March 16: Wind is again the big story, and it is hard for us because we know whales are going by. Sometimes, like today, we are lucky and can catch a bunch before close out. We saw five in groups of two (leading) and three. The five animals were within a half mile. We do see similar arrangements of groups of groups regularly. Is it really one loose group? Probably. And, it will be interesting when we begin gathering acoustic data, which we will be doing soon, to hear if there appears to be chatter between the groups. March 15: On the Ides of March the ocean resembled a Caesar salad. We managed a taste of at least two gray whales migrating north. We were thankful for the glimpse and held on to our position in an effort to determine if there were three. Couldn't do it. The wind was way too strong and the swell too great. March
14: The formidable wind
held off for us until just past noon. It was windy before that,
but manageable. March 10: The whales started at 10:00 with a single. At 11:00 we saw multiple blows that turned into a pair leading a group of five, followed a half-hour later by another single. After noon, we had a trio and a single, then a pair before three and a single at four-thirty brought us to 16 northbound gray whales for the day! March 9: The day was exceptionally fine: nine whales in groups of three, two, and one. Some were close, others distant, all were gray whales heading north. March 5: A colleague in Mexico says that the El Niño-Southern Oscillation has created colder waters in the lagoons, and many gray whales are going further south to the Cabo San Lucas area and even turning north, traveling well up into the Sea of Cortez for warmer water. How this will affect the pregnant mothers and their calves, we do not know. It seems this could also spread the migration out and, perhaps, extend the time it takes the whales to return to Alaska. March 3: It was a beautiful day in the Santa Barbara Channel, with good observation quality. We were being interviewed by the BBC via mobile phone. It was very cool that in mid-sentence there was a whale blow; it was a nice way to share the action on Coal Oil Point. The link to BBC will take you to the Gray Whale page, which is part of their year-long following of migrations, called World on the Move. You can hear or download the interviews and link to other migration pages. The BBC will be with us and make reports every two weeks through the Gray Whales Count program. March
13: The wind from yesterday kept on blowing. We managed just
under three hours before we had to get real and cancel the
day. Before that we did manage to see two gray whales charging
through the swell, chop, and spray. Feb. 28: The Condor Express graciously alerted us to two gray whales that were heading north. The whales probably had entered our area from way offshore and angled in well outside of the oil platform in what was pretty hazy territory for us. We got good enough looks when they were with the whale watching vessel, and we were able to Count this pair to bring our total to 29. Feb. 26: Northbound whales one and two appeared about 10:30 on a course for Platform Holly (oil platform about two miles offshore). Just before they got there, one of the whales breached, again and again and again and again. Amazing. The question came up: "Why do they do that?" It turns out maybe this whale was spooked by events at the oil platform. Workers are sandblasting, and maybe that startled the whale. After the breaches we did not see the pair again. Our second group (three whales), also exhibited a behavior change at Platform Holly, with a very long downtime underwater as they passed by the platform. Feb. 25: Lunch had to be postponed because we saw blows at noon. The gray whale was coming around Campus Point (UCSB), two miles east of us. We tracked the whale for a long time, well off to the west of us with many blows and some flukes. Before we could grab the lunch pail, there were more blows further out. A group of three stayed on a course more than three miles out and they passed outside the oil platform southwest of us as they made their way west (northbound). We will continue to have some pauses, but the migration north appears to have kicked into gear. Feb. 23: Brutal wind today. It was coming from the southeast, right out of the morning sun. The glare was so bad we couldn't even see the whitecaps to assess the Beaufort scale. At nine it was probably only about 20 knots; at nine thirty, 25 knots; and just after ten it was gusting 35. It was a challenge even for the kite surfers because there was a lot of chop, creating big troughs. No, we did not see a whale or dolphin today. Feb. 19: Show time was around 1:00 with a pair of mature, gray whales blowing and fluking as they headed northward. And, passing the opposite way, a juvenile persevered southward. Strange, and pretty wonderful. Northbound count to date: 8 Feb.
18: No
whales today. We are in the very beginnings of the northbound
migration, and we
probably will not get the peloton for a couple of weeks. (The
peloton is the pack in a bicycle race.) What we are seeing
now are the
break-away juveniles, hungry and heading for northern waters.
Soon recently impregnated females, mostly going solo, will
be passing
through the Channel. They will be followed by gangs of whales,
some continuing their mating dance, promenading north. The final
act will be calves paired with their mothers. Many travel right
in front of us and sometimes they pause for play or nursing,
or just to give mom a break. February 16: Whale watching season has begun in the Santa Barbara Channel and the target is the northbound migration of gray whales. The whalewatch boat Condor Express comes by the Point, as much as three times a day, during their two-and-a-half hour trips to see whales. Sometimes, they don't come at all. As we all know, not many northbound whales have been seen in the Channel yet, and so the wise Captain Mat of the Condor Express listened to his radio and heard boats in the east Channel talking about a sighting. Instead of west towards Coal Oil Point, he steered the Condor to the east, and he found two whales, indeed northbound, but 25 miles in a straight line from our position. We know whales don't necessarily travel in a straight line. Even so, we were hoping this pair might arrive before 5 p.m. so we could see and count our first northbound whale. In the meantime we carried on as usual. Bottlenose dolphins decided they had plenty of fish here so why go by the Point. They stayed around all day and were always in view. While the dolphin dance was reaching crescendo, two vigilant observers spotted distant blows. It was not our anticipated pair, but it was a young gray whale, heading north, solo. We did not ever see the other whales. We heard from the Condor Express that they headed through mid-Channel, about seven miles offshore. February 15: Two more! At 2:45 p.m. we saw a blow amidst the whitecaps off Campus Point (two miles east of us). It turned out to be two gray whales working their way around the kelp and heading west (northbound). In spite of the chop, we all got good looks and we were able to track them all the way through the area. February
14: Numero uno. We saw our first
northbound gray whale at 11:18! Three
beautiful, heart-shaped blows blows, and an elegant arch into
a dive.
With cameras ready for the Valentine picture, all that could
be documented was ocean. We never saw the whale again. We get
the felling it is going to be one of those years ... February 13: Hey, we saw a whale today. It was going SOUTH but an interesting sighting because it was surrounded by and seemingly escorted by three bottlenose dolphins and a sea lion. February 10: Still no whales, but for the 4th straight year we were thrilled to see a dolphin "queen" we've named Quasimoda, well named and easily identified because of the large lump (tumor) on her back. (See photo at right.) While she is the queen, we appreciated that she brought her full entourage of bottlenose dolphins that chased fish back and forth across, around, and back across the Point for a good part of the day. February 4: Day 8 of our counting. It felt like we were in the middle of the migration, and I guess we are ... the southbound whales are coming on strong. January 28: The count begins. Wonderful to be back on the Point! We got off to a good start with three different sea otters, twenty bottlenose dolphins, and a gray whale, and it was good sized for a southbounder in the nearshore. Most are juveniles. We didn't see anygray whales going north. They'll come. |
A
kite surfer likes the windy day at Coal Oil Point!
Mar. 13: The big surf of two weeks ago seems to have washed many Northern elephant seal pups off their beaches. We helped rescue one last week and we found two more today: one to the west and one to the east. Counters teamed with volunteers from the Marine Mammal Center to capture the pups for transport to the Center. |
Calf becomes
the "Kelp Monster!"
Calf at Coal Oil Point
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