Capt. Dan's Southern California Sailing Charters » whales

New film from & about Channel Islands National Park

Capt. Dan — Sat, 14 May 2011 23:43:24 +0000

This is a new film from the National Park Service portraying the lush/stark/beauty of our islands and extolling the virtues of conservation.

The voice over is Kevin Costner, a local boy. How local? Costner attended elementary school at McKevette School in Santa Paula, California, Cabrillo Jr. High School and Buena High in Ventura, though he graduated from Villa Park High School in Villa Park.

But Kevin isn’t the star of this show; this is all about landscape and cinematography. I’ve watched the film a couple of times. It’s actually best set to mute. Kevin is superb, but the script is … well, not to my taste.

So, pour a glass of wine, click on the image of Arch Rock over to the right and begin thinking about buying a new camera.

It’s about a half hour long and should inspire you to visit the islands some time between now and the winter gales.

See you on the water.

Share on Facebook

Gray Whales southward progress

Capt. Dan — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 00:10:03 +0000

A good year – so far

Gray whales are headed south in above average numbers at the moment. American Cetacean Society (ACS) spotters at Point Vincente in Rancho Palos Verdes pronounced 8 Jan – yesterday – a GREAT Day as they spotted 25 adult grays heading south.

The total for 2011 is 154. The 10-year average for this point in the migration is about 70.

To keep track of the Gray’s progress, go to ACS

Share on Facebook

Sailor’s vacation: go for a sail

Capt. Dan — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 20:21:53 +0000

Glacier tour

Hi Shipmates -

Lynn and I are off for a week, heading to Prince William Sound. If only this were a sailboat ….

This is a dual purpose mission: vacation and research. I’m going to school on how this cruise line does the job. It’s a smallish ship with about 70 passengers. “A soft adventure,” just as we bill our Channel Islands Cruises.

Apparently the accommodations are very similar to Sancerre’s guest cabin i.e. cozy. Their crew, like ours, takes folks on side tours, gives the nature talks, prepares and serves the food. They just do it for many more people than the Bosun and I.

I don’t know that they’ll share trade secrets, but even so, I’ll get to see this from the customer side of the operation.

If you’re trying to book a trip with Sail Channel Islands, just shoot me an e-mail and I’ll get back to you as soon as I get back to California – I should be back in gear by 19 June.

Sail Channel Islands

———————-

Share on Facebook

Flying whales, porpoises, dolphins – all part of today’s show in the Santa Barbara Channel

Capt. Dan — Fri, 21 May 2010 23:23:38 +0000

Dall's Porpoise ©David Gallup/GAP

Dall’s Porpoise – according to our reference manual – is quite common. Nevertheless, I saw them this week for the first time, and I’ve been sailing the Pacific for more than 20 years. I’ve got some film of the critters, but it’s indistinct, blurry, shaky and – maybe – barely usable. That’s because these guys spend about .01 seconds grabbing a breath and the rest of the time jinking and zigging and zagging. Surprisingly, these porpoises don’t porpoise. I guess that’s reserved for dolphins. We’d already had two great days of wildlife watching when the Dall’s interrupted our Humpback
viewing. Just north of Cueva Valdez, between two and four miles from the beach, we encountered multiple pods of Humpbacks. They were extremely acrobatic, tail slapping, spyhopping and breaching intermittently. We sailed in the vicinity of 6-8 pods, each with 3-5 whales. This aggregation spanned the area from just north of Cueva to the West.

End of Santa Cruz. The final whale made the most spectacular breach any of us had ever seen, getting its entire body airborne before arching and twisting to land on its side with a colossal splash. There were so many whales spouting, slapping and making a ruckus that it reminded us of the

fountain at the Vegas Bellagio. And one more thing (two more): we could frequently smell the animals (not pleasant) and hear vocalizations. These were not the well know

n “song,” but sounded more like a car attempting to get unstuck from a snowdrift. The Bosun said it also sounded like a tuba player clearing the spit valve on his instrument. Tells you who has more experience with what.

Checkout the slideshow from Orizaba and Platt’s Anchorages.

More Whales

Share on Facebook

Don’t miss the spring flower show in the Channel Islands

Capt. Dan — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 20:47:52 +0000

The Islands are awash in color.

Winter rains have broken dormancy on an unusual number of wildflowers this year. Though not the “best ever,” it is still in the great experiences category.

Add to that a plethora of whales – Island Packer Captains are reporting up to 30 sightings a day of Grays and Humpbacks and a profusion of dolphins – estimated in the 2500 range – each day.

If you’re unable to make it to the islands this weekend, head to the National Park Service Headquarters in Ventura Harbor. They’ve got a nice little garden of island natives that is exploding with color. In fact, that’s where many of these pictures come from.

============================

Share on Facebook