Day 7 Dolphin Survey by Anna:

This morning we were concerned that we would find huge swells on the water. (Yesterday, the seas were so rolly, I almost got sick.) What a treat to pull out of the harbor this morning- it was like a lake!! We turned towards the north in pursuit of our favorite cetacean, the bottlenose dolphin.

There was not a cloud in the sky, and the seas were a flat and glassy Beaufort 1. It was perfect spotting conditions; Yee, Renata and Marie easily picked out every harbor seal, sea lion and otter. Even the harbor porpoises were easy to find. Every siting was dutifully recorded on the data sheet. However, at 11:00, we found ourselves all the way up to the cement ship (our usual turn-around point) and had not found any dolphins. We decided to take advantage of the good sea conditions and continued on to Lighthouse Point off of Santa Cruz. We caught glimpses of over one hundred sea lions beneath the Santa Cruz pier and saw several otters floating in the kelp beds including a mother and pup!

After completing our survey of the bay's entire northern coast, the quickest route home was off-shore, straight back to Moss Landing. Once the powerplant stacks were insight, Sean spotted a blow! We found two humpback whales! We watched for several minutes as they took a series of breaths and dove down, likely for a mid-day sanck. One of the humpacks had an unusually hooked dorsal fin.

Although we never spotted the dolphins, we went home quite satisfied with our day: lovely weather conditions, up-close view of Santa Cruz, otter mom and pup and whales!