REPORT ON ACS WHALE WATCH CRUISE AUGUST 21, 1999
Fifty-two hopeful and excited members and friends departed from Monterey
Sport Fishing's dock at 8 a.m. on board the Magnum Force, with Captain Leon
Oliver and Deckhand "A.J."
Cruise highlights included:
- dense swarms of the brown Sea Nettle,
Chrysaora fuscescens, in the outer harbor and off the south end of Cannery Row;
- a huge, est. 300 lb, Ocean Sunfish or Mola Mola, swimming lazily next
to the "Force", possibly being "cleaned" of its parasites by Western
Gulls;
- three formation-swimming Humpbacks, 7.5 miles west of Cypress
Point, Pebble Beach;
- two pairs of Blue Whales making feeding dives in 800
feet of water in the Carmel Submarine Canyon northwest of Point Lobos. The
huge animals appeared to body surf towards the vessel in the big swells of
outer Carmel Bay;
- 5 Dall's Porpoise creating their characteristic
"rooster tails" in the same area.
Seabirds were abundant and included:
- 25 Black-footed Albatross around the
"Force" taking our chum off the fantail;
- Northern Fulmar,
- Sooty, Pink-footed and Buller's Shearwaters,
- Elegant Tern,
- Common Murre,
- Rhinoceros Auklet,
- Pigeon Guillemot, and
- a fly-by hummingbird.
On board naturalists were Esta Lee Albright, Jerry Loomis, Jud Vandevere, and
Katherine Whitaker.
Our thanks to President Dan Presser and the members and friends who came out
and braved some gnarly seas to support this critical fund raiser for our
Chapter's graduate student research awards program.
Our thanks also to Captain Oliver for putting us in the best viewing
positions, to "A.J." for chumming etc., and finally to owner Angelo Shake of
Monterey Sport Fishing for making this cruise possible.
-Alan Baldridge, Naturalist and Recorder
Find out about the next scheduled summer ACS whale watch cruise.
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Photograph copyright © 1999 Tom Kieckhefer.
Last updated September 9, 2000.