HAPPY EASTER FROM FIVE STAR WHALE WATCHING!!!
Five Star Whale Watching had its first official trip of the 2008 season yesterday (Good Friday, March 21, 2008)...We journeyed out on "Fast Cat", one of our Expedition Catamarans, and encountered Transient (Marine Mammal Eating) Killer Whales South East of William Head and followed them to about 2 miles ESE of Race Rocks.
Our preliminary I.D. was T-49 group of Transient Killer Whales (4 Adult Females & 3 Calves). T-51, a large Male who occasionally travels with this group, was not there. One new calf seemed to be less than a year old...maybe even just months old.
We say "Preliminary I.D." as Ron Bates of the Marine Mammal Research Group (MMRG) has taught up to always take time to properly examine our detailed photographs after the trip as on the scene I.D.'s can be skewed by expectations and adrenaline! We will post the actual pictures early next week. The photo above is courtesy of the book "Transients" authored by Dr. John K .B. Ford and Graeme M. Ellis and published by UBC Press/Vancouver and University of Washington Press/Seattle.
There was a tightly packed group of Steller Sea Lions at Race Rocks. Tightly packed because even though the surface of the sea was very calm, a large and powerful swell was rising and falling 8 to 10 feet up against the rocks, forcing the Steller Sea Lions to all retreat farther up the rocks than usual and gather on one portion of Race Rocks that was in the lee of the crashing waves. Beautiful Day. Crew was: Capt. Trev Neufeld, Marine Mammal Research Group (MMRG) Researcher Ron Bates, and Marine Naturalists Jim Dale & Josh McInnes.
1 comment:
Great post Jim and congrats on finding Transients on the first trip of the year.
The Whale they are a callin and I am looking forward to my first trip. Just a few weeks now until I return from Belize.
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