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!
