Mount Baker
Harbour porpoise
Tail Fluke
Tail Fluke 
Gray Whale in Baines Channel.
Our morning and afternoon trips once again saw Orcas and had a great time. However, the highlight of the day was when a Gray Whale was discovered during our evening tour in Baines Channel just off Oak Bay. At first we received reports that this animal was a Humpback Whale but our Naturalist Kayla Graham, soon correctly identified the animal as a Grey Whale. Kyla knows what she is talking about as she was a volunteer with Earth Watch during a Gray Whale identification program. We also saw a large number of Harbour Porpoises during our tour and also got to see Mount Baker in all its splendor.
Our morning and afternoon trips once again saw Orcas and had a great time. However, the highlight of the day was when a Gray Whale was discovered during our evening tour in Baines Channel just off Oak Bay. At first we received reports that this animal was a Humpback Whale but our Naturalist Kayla Graham, soon correctly identified the animal as a Grey Whale. Kyla knows what she is talking about as she was a volunteer with Earth Watch during a Gray Whale identification program. We also saw a large number of Harbour Porpoises during our tour and also got to see Mount Baker in all its splendor.
Gray whales have a streamlined body, with a narrow, tapered head. The upper jaw is arched in profile, and slightly overlaps the lower jaw. The rostrum (upper jaw) is dimpled and each of the little depressions contains one stiff hair. There are 2-5 grooves on the ventral throat 5 feet (1.5 m) in length. The gray whale received its name from the gray patches and white mottling on its dark skin.
The Gray whale has no dorsal (top) fin. About 2/3 of the way back on its body is a prominent dorsal hump followed by a series of 6-12 knuckles along the dorsal ridge that extend to the flukes (tail lobes). Its flippers are paddle shaped and pointed at the tips. Its fluke is about 10-12 feet (3.7 m) across, pointed at the tips, and deeply notched in the center. These characteristics are what enabled Kayla to correctly identify the animal we saw this evening. Adult males measure 45-46 feet (13.7-14 m) and adult females measure slightly more. Both sexes weigh 30-40 tons (27,200-36,300 kg).
Gray Whales feed on small crustaceans such as amphipods, and tube worms found in bottom sediments. They feed primarily during the summer months of long daylight hours in the cold Arctic waters of the Bering and Chukchi seas. As a Baleen Whale, it has a series of 130-180 fringed overlapping plates hanging from each side of the upper jaw, where teeth might otherwise be located. These plates consist of a fingernail-like material called keratin that frays out into fine hairs on the ends inside the mouth next to the tongue. The plates are off-white and about 2-10 inches (5-25 cm) in length. To feed, a whale dives to the bottom, rolls on its side and draws bottom sediments and water into its mouth. As it closes its mouth, water and sediments are expelled through the baleen plates, which trap the food on the inside near the tongue to be swallowed.
The gray whale makes one of the longest of all mammalian migrations, averaging 10,000-14,000 miles (16,000-22,530 km) round trip. In October, the whales begin to leave their feeding grounds in the Bering and Chukchi Seas and head south for their mating and calving lagoons in Baja California, Mexico. The southward journey takes 2-3 months.
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People concerned with the future of grey whales fought a valiant and successful battle to prevent Exportadora S.A. and its affiliate, Baja Salt, from siting a massive salt processing plant in grey whale and sea turtle spawning grounds of the coast of southern Baha Mexico.
Those who fought so valiantly may not be aware that Markos Moulitsas (DailyKos), who wants to "crash the gates" of the Democratic Party, shares a family business with the principal of Baja Salt, Carlos Alberto Delgado ZÚÑIGA. And Baja Salt is the very company that was trying to destroy the Mexican whale preserve by siting an enormous international salt processing plant there.
That's right. It's all documented in records of the Government of El Salvador that the "manager" of the hotel that Moulitsas calls his "family businesses," the Suites Jaltepeque Hotel of San Salvador, El Salavador, is Carlos Alberto Delgado ZÚÑIGA. In Salvadoran Government documents, this same person is listed as "owner" of Baja Salt, a notorious polluter of grey whale and sea turtle spawning grounds in Baja Mexico.
But don't just take my word for it. Read the article and follow the links for yourselves to confirm these astounding facts.
I know Moulitsas ZÚÑIGA says he wants to "crash the gates" of the Democratic Party and change it fundamentally. But, I've just learned from his speech at the Commonwealth Club that he spent six months interviewing with the US CIA in 2001. I think his motives are VERY suspect!
America DOES need fundamental changes, but the Democratic Party ought not be taken over by CIA applicants like Markos Moulitsas ZÚÑIGA who are connected to notorious polluters of grey whale spawning grounds. I can't see how that would help the grey whales, the sea turtles, or anybody else!
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