Winter Storms....

We are expected to have rain continuing through Saturday.. Here are a few images taken last year during this time in the middle of a storm / down pour.

Valentine Orca & Dolphin

It was a beautiful morning out in the channel... About 3/4 through our search for whales and or dolphins (southwest of Anacapa Island), we weren't sure if we were going to find anything, but then Jason spotted a tall, black dorsal fin out in the channel / ocean (further south)... It was an Orca. Zach and I jumped up, grabbed our cameras, and headed to the top deck. The Orca went down on a deep dive. We were getting worried that it was going to just disappear on us as Transients are known to do, but after about seven minutes, the Orca re-surfaced about a half-mile away towards Anacapa Island. We caught up to it. The large male Orca would surface a few times, then go down on a deeper dive for a couple of minutes. We stayed with it through a couple of breathing cycles, and left it heading southeast. He was the only Orca around. On our way in, a couple of miles from shore, we saw a small group of Pacific White Sided Dolphins feeding. They were closer in towards the mainland than we typically see them. What a great day!

Hope everyone had a good Valentine's Day!

Lions....

A couple of lion photos from a few years ago...

It's that time of year.....

It is that time of year again when the sun is setting, you hope the sky in the west is clear, and for a few minutes Horsetail Falls glows from the sun shinning on it as it sets.. It's an intense moment.. Your waiting and waiting and waiting and wondering if it's actually going to happen tonight.. Then all of a sudden, it's happening and all the shutters start clicking.. It's a moment you will never forget...

Next week is prime time for Horsetail Falls to light up as the sun sets. I was hoping to go this year, still thinking about it as friends are going.. It's suppose to be one of the best years, that is, if there is enough snow to keep the water flowing. There is a decent amount now.

Winter is my favorite time of year to photograph Yosemite.. Everything changes throughout the day, hour by hour, minute by minute... You never know what you are going to wake up to.

Here are some photos that I took back in 2006..

January 7, 2011.. Interesting day...

On January 7th, I went whale watching in the morning. It was clear in some areas, foggy in others that came and went throughout the day. I ended up gong on the afternoon trip as well. The fog and clouds changed constantly throughout the day over Anacapa Island, which is what made the day interesting.

Here are some photos :)

In this photo, you can see further down the island the cloud cover over the middle islet. I have some closer ones to show you of it soon. :)

The sunset was sensational heading back into the harbor. It was not a full sky sunset, only one little area in the sky had the dramatic clouds and colors.

First trip we saw a ton of very active Sea Lions. That was the first time in years that I have seen them that active. We did find a mom and calf Gray Whale in the middle of the channel, more so on the northern route even though she was heading south. The young one that was with her seemed quite young (several days old) and unfortunately, it didn't look very healthy.

The second trip, we were able to go around the arch and to the first area of Sea Lions before turning back around and going along the front side of Anacapa Island. The captain; Jason received a call from Anthony; another boat captain that was taking people to Santa Cruz Island. Well, he told Jason that there was a whale near Scorpion (east end of Santa Cruz Island). Jason went out there anyway knowing that it would put us back into the harbor late.

Sometimes the weather can prevent IPCO to cover the whole area that the whales usually are when traveling through our channel, like today.

Here are a couple of pics. I am going to post several more later of Anacapa Island with interesting changes.

Enjoy! :)

Fog clearing at Anacapa Island,,

This was back in January of 2011.. Just a few weeks ago.. I spent the day out on the water watching the clouds and fog form many different scenes.. Here is on of Anacapa Island...

Common Dolphins...

These people thoroughly enjoyed the Common Dolphins (approximately 1400).. It is always nice to see people enjoying the wildlife we have here in our channel...

Yesterday morning, we saw our first pair of north bound Gray Whales, and then the dolphins. We had a nice trip circumnavigating around Anacapa Island, viewing the Sea Lions, Elephant Seals (one had a pup), and lots of birds. It was a beautiful day out on the water..

If anyone is interested in whale watching and or island day / camping trips, contact Island Packers.

Have a great Super Bowl weekend!

Sacramento

Winter in Sacramento....