[CKF Info] The Blue Whales Are Back!

[Lee A. Shurie]

What a great day Duane!
 
I have some fixit-work at my house. The next time you see blue whales if you
don't have enough work to do at home feel free to stop by. ;)
 
Best, 
Lee
 
 

-----Original Message-----
From: SoCalKayaking at yahoogroups.com [mailto:SoCalKayaking at yahoogroups.com]
On Behalf Of Duane Strosaker
Sent: Sunday, June 29, 2008 5:01 PM
To: CKF Info; SoCalKayaking
Subject: [SoCalKayaking] The Blue Whales Are Back!



Kayakers,

I've been offshore twice a week during the entire month of June, and I've
waited a long time and worked hard to have the subject line say, "The Blue
Whales Are Back!" once again this year. Usually, the blues arrive in late
June, but by then they seem to be in full swing, so I thought I'd get an
earlier start this year. But starting to look for them earlier didn't help.
I was even beginning to fear they wouldn't come this year, but they are hear
now.

I almost didn't even go whale watching today. There was Jack's rock garden
paddle, but I didn't go because I don't like to mix a long period swell with
the rocks. Then I told Dublin Dave and Ken that I'd join them for their 7am
paddle out of Newport. But I needed to sleep in a bit to recover from a cold
this week, so I stood them up. I knew parking would be easy at Dana Point,
so I arrived there at 8:30.

About a mile offshore, just past the Dana Wharf Yacht Club buoy, I saw what
seemed like an endless pod of common dolphin. For about a half hour, I
followed them farther offshore a couple of miles, but I never really did get
any closer to them than a hundred yards. There must have been a thousand
that went by before the pod ended.

By the time the dolphin were gone, the wind picked up to 15 knots, whitecaps
were prevalent, and waves were occasionally washing over the deck of my
kayak. This was terrible whale watching weather. I had to change my doorbell
transformer at home, so I thought I'd head back in early.

About then the two Dolphin Safari catamarans stopped a few hundreds yards
from me. I looked over, and what do you know, they had seen the blue whale
before I did. The doorbell transformer was going to have to wait till
another day. It was the Dolphin Safari's whale, so I kept a distance but
still enjoyed the views. A half hour later, the catamarans had to take their
clients back, and for the next 1 1/2 hours, I shared the blue with a private
boat.

All in all, over a two-hour period, I watched the blue whale on the surface
a dozen times, including 3 fluke views. But I was never closer to it than a
hundred yards. The whale kept drawing me farther and farther offshore, in
rougher and rougher water, and I figured it was trying to kill me. The wind
was forecasted at 20 knots for the afternoon, so by noon it was time to head
back. It took me an hour of hard paddling back in beam wind and seas to
reach the harbor entrance, so I was probably about 4 miles offshore.

And I was still able to change the doorbell transformer when I arrived back
home. A real man can chase whales and still get the chores done!

Duane



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