Tag: Channel Islands

Boaters encounter orca hunting party and scene is ‘bananas’

The extraordinary killer whale encounter off California featured an elephant seal kill an ‘orca party’ alongside the boat.

Those on an exploratory cruise to San Miguel Island off Ventura on Wednesday were massively rewarded with the discovery of 15 orcas attacking and feasting on a large elephant seal.

As if that weren’t enough, afterward the sleek and powerful mammals became playful and curious, unleashing an array of acrobatic behaviors as passengers and crew watched in awe.

“Yesterday was absolutely bananas [and] here are some photos to prove it,” Delaney Trowbridge, a Pacific Offshore Expeditions captain, exclaimed Thursday via Instagram. “What followed after the kill could only be described as an ‘orca party’ as they erupted into breaches, spyhops, and tail lobs!”

Photo: ©Delaney Trowbridge

San Miguel Island, 70 miles west of Ventura, Ca., is extremely remote so Trowbridge and co-captain Ryan Lawler were fortunate that the gamble paid off beyond expectations.

“I have been lucky to enjoy many amazing encounters with killer whales in Southern California waters over the years, but this one was an 11 [out of a possible] 10,” Trowbridge stated.

Photo: ©Delaney Trowbridge

The group first encountered a family pod of seven orcas porpoising at high speed.

Lawler, who captured video footage showing a portion of the seal hunt, explained via Instagram that the seven orcas led the group to two other family groups that had surrounded the seal. (See footage below.)

https://www.instagram.com/p/C_QueaIPNCe/

Northern elephant seals can weigh more than 4,000 pounds so a single seal is a blubbery prize for Bigg’s killer whales, which prey almost exclusively on other marine mammals.

Lawler continued: “The seal had no chance as it was surrounded by 15 Killer Whales, and they spent hours holding the seal captive as they bumped and harassed it before finally killing it.”

The orca family groups included the scientifically cataloged CA216Bs, the CA138s, and a portion of the CA27s, according to the California Killer Whale Project.

Photo: ©Delaney Trowbridge

San Miguel Island, a major rookery for seals and sea lions, is not routinely visited by commercial whale-watching companies.

But Pacific Offshore Expeditions has scheduled a series of 8-hour whale-watching excursions and “Killer Whale Quests” within Channel Islands National Park, possibly including San Miguel Island.

Rare cloud formations make waves during California storm

A Channel Islands National Park ranger on Wednesday boated across the channel beneath a sky that appeared wavier than the ocean.

A Channel Islands National Park ranger on Wednesday boated across the channel beneath a sky that appeared wavier than the ocean.

The agency featured two images of the surreal-looking cloud formations beyond the Oxnard-Ventura area, explaining to followers via X:

“Check out these rare cloud formations today in the Santa Barbara Channel. A ranger captured this while returning to the mainland. These are asperitas clouds, known for their dramatic wave-like appearance on the underside of the cloud. Asperitas translates to ‘roughness’ in Latin.”

Images courtesy of Channel Islands National Park/NPS

The International Cloud Atlas states that aspertitas “is characterized by localized waves in the cloud base, either smooth or dappled with smaller features, sometimes descending into sharp points, as if viewing a roughened sea surface from below.

“Varying levels of illumination and thickness of the cloud can lead to dramatic visual effects.”

The clouds materialized during an atmospheric river event that delivered heavy rainfall to Southern California. A second wave is expected to arrive beginning late Friday.

California HS baseball team gets humbling gesture from opponents after break-in

The Channel Islands team had two games remaining on their 2023 schedule and they got an assist from their opponents.

The Channel Islands High School (Calif.) baseball team faced an extremely awful situation in late April. According to an account by the local ABC affiliate, the door to the team’s clubhouse was busted open, and the perpetrator(s) made off with bats, gloves and other assorted baseball equipment totaling $6,000.

Unfortunate as the incident is, this story does have a silver lining.

The Channel Islands team had two games remaining on their 2023 schedule and they got an assist from their opponents. Both Rio Mesa and Oxnard high schools donated equipment for them to use during their matchups.

The team’s head coach Ronnie Marin had this to say about the gesture, per ABC.

“That was really humbling that they just gave it to us before the game started so the kids were all happy and they used it during the game…”

Channel Islands beat Rio Mesa 3-2 but ended their season with a 10-3 loss to Oxnard, finishing the season 6-14-1.

The equipment theft is still being investigated, and the team is raising money to replace what was taken.

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Stunning footage shows ‘way of the orca’ while hunting dolphins

A Southern California photographer has captured extraordinary footage revealing how transient orcas stun their prey before participating in a group feast.

A Southern California photographer has captured graphic but extraordinary footage revealing how transient orcas stun prey before participating in a group feast.

In describing the accompanying video, Ryan Lawler of Pacific Offshore Expeditions wrote:

“Orcas rarely use their teeth to kill prey. Most of the time a combination of body-slamming, head-butting and slaps from the tail are used to inflict blunt force trauma. While this is no doubt a sad video in some respects, this is the way of the Orca. One dolphin fed the entire pod of five for at least one whole day.”

The orcas, or killer whales, were encountered Christmas Day near Anacapa Island off Ventura County.

The mammals were active and the top image, courtesy of Mark Girardeau, shows the pod’s matriarch leaping “Free Willy style” in pursuit of the dolphin. The matriarch, catalogued as CA140B and nicknamed Louise, was identified by Alisa Schulman-Janiger of the California Killer Whale Project.

Transient orcas are occasional visitors to Southern California and their hunting forays often involve common dolphins.