A Great Way to End 2010....

Friday, December 31, 2010, Kayla and I decided at the last minute to take the whale watch boat out of Ventura with Island Packers since a friend was on board. We found out as we were walking down to the boat that they just came in from seeing Orcas, but of course, wasn't sure if it was possible to find them again. Transient Orcas can disappear really fast, and cover a great deal of area over a short period of time. So we headed out of Ventura harbor with Kayla in her typical spot that Anthony always sets up for her. It was a beautiful, but down right chilly day. We encountered an "indecisive" Gray Whale trying to decide which route to take through the last half of the Santa Barbara Channel down to Baja. After watching the Gray Whale and getting our exercise from going from one side of the boat to the other to watch it, we encountered a good size group of Common Dolphins in front of Anacapa Island heading east. Do they know what lies up ahead of them? Didn't seem so.

A few miles east and inland a bit from Anacapa Island, the Vanguard; sister

boat of the Islander that we were on were with a small group of Transient Orcas, so we hurried to them. We arrived as they were looking for something to eat. They tossed a California Sea Lion into the air before having it for dinner. It was about that time. Luckily, for sensitive people, they killed and ate it under water. There was one large male in the group which trained two of the younger Orcas. One of the younger ones seem to be very young as it still had an orange tint to its white areas. Once they were done with their meal, they headed out west and we said good-bye.

You can see more photos on my website at (for CA Transient Orcas) http://www.creativefreedomphotography.com/p690773035 and (for Gray Whales) http://www.creativefreedomphotography.com/p700056896