whale watching – Page 4 – Syndication Server

Large whale killed by destroyer becomes feast for blue sharks

One of two fin whales struck and killed by an Australian destroyer last week off San Diego has become a feast for blue sharks.

The accompanying graphic images and video, captured by Delaney Trowbridge of Pacific Offshore Expeditions, show sharks and gulls feeding on the whale carcass Thursday near San Clemente Island.

The fin whales, measuring 65 and 25 feet, were discovered lodged to the hull of the Australian Royal Navy vessel after it had pulled into San Diego last Saturday.

The 481-foot HMAS Sydney, a guided missile destroyer, had been conducting joint exercises with the U.S. Navy when it struck both whales at an unknown offshore location.

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The larger whale was subsequently towed offshore; the smaller calf or juvenile was destined for a landfill.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CO1s286phf3/

“Obviously, so many people were upset that they killed it, but in my opinion it’s just a terrible accident,” Trowbridge told For The Win Outdoors. “But I hope those people can find some solace in the fact that the body is in the ocean contributing to the ecosystem. It’s not a wasted life by any means.”

Ship strikes are a leading cause of death for large whales and occasionally the mammals become lodged against the bows of enormous ships.

“Often times, [crews] don’t know until they come in and stop,” Justin Viezbicke, coordinator of NOAA’s California Marine Mammal Stranding Network, told the San Diego Union-Tribune. “That’s when the whale falls off and floats out.”

The incident remains under investigation by both military agencies and NOAA Fisheries, which collected samples in an attempt to determine, among other things, if they were mother and calf.

The Royal Australian Navy, in a statement, said it “takes marine mammal safety seriously and is disheartened this incident occurred.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/CO1pAgRBzS3/

Ryan Lawler, owner of Pacific Offshore Expeditions, told For The Win Outdoors that at least 12 blue sharks were feeding on the carcass Thursday as it floated 10 miles east of San Clemente Island.

Said Trowbridge: “We just saw this mass on the horizon, initially thought it was a boat or thought it was debris. Ryan got close enough to inspect it with binoculars and realized it was the whale.

“Then when we got up to it, we noticed the tow rope attached to the tail and that confirmed it was the same one killed by that Australian Navy boat from San Diego.”

Trowbridge shared more sentiments via Instagram:

“Most of you have probably heard the news that a pair of Fin Whales was recently struck and killed by an Australian Navy vessel in San Diego. Even in the vastness of the ocean, the wrong paths can still cross… resulting in terrible accidents like this one.

“While it’s sad to consider the context, at the very least this whale’s body has been returned to the sea where she belongs. She’ll now feed hundreds, if not thousands, of other marine species and return to the ecosystem.”

Boaters swim with giant basking sharks during rare encounter

A Southern California whale-watching operator has captured rare footage showing enormous basking sharks feeding with fin whales 55 miles beyond San Diego.

The footage captured during a crew trip on Wednesday briefly shows Domenic Biagini, owner of Gone Whale Watching San Diego, swimming alongside one of the harmless sharks.

“It was surreal,” he told For The Win Outdoors. “You can know it’s a big animal, but you don’t realize just how big it really is until you’re swimming next to it.”

Basking sharks are the second-largest sharks, next to whale sharks, and can measure nearly 40 feet. Fin whales are the second in size to blue whales, the largest animals on the planet, and can measure 80-plus feet.

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Both species are filter feeders and on Wednesday both gorged on a vast bloom of shrimp-like krill southwest of San Diego.

Basking shark feeds on krill. Credit: Domenic Biagini

Biagini said three basking sharks shared a large area with perhaps 30 fin whales – an unusually large gathering of fin whales – and his crew captured footage from various angles.

At 3:27 a fin whale and basking shark can be seen swimming toward one another and the whale veers to avoid a possible collision.

Basking sharks, known to “bask” near the surface, were overfished decades ago and have not recovered.

Basking shark off the stern. Credit: Domenic Biagini

Limited data suggest that populations remain below historic levels, according to a research paper published by Frontiers in Marine Science in 2018.

Sightings off California are rare but “if they do show we expect them in the spring and summer and then to depart in the fall,” Heidi Dewar, a senior researcher at NOAA’s Southwest Fisheries Science Center and one of the paper’s primary authors, told For The Win Outdoors. “It’s nice to see that there are still a few out there.”

Basking shark (top) swims toward fin whale. Credit: Domenic Biagini

A tagging study conducted from 2010 to 2011 suggested that, nearshore, basking sharks migrate north in the summer and “prefer shelf and slope habitat around San Diego, Point Conception and Monterey Bay.”

Two of four tagged sharks left the coast in the summer and fall. By January, one had traveled to Baja California’s tip and another had traveled west, almost to Hawaii.

Offshore, both spent considerable time in very deep water.

Fin whale gorges on krill. Credit: Domenic Biagini

Basking sharks are impressive because of their size but also the manner by which they feed, with enormous mouths agape as they swim through and consume plankton.

Stated Biagini on Facebook: “Since the crew had dive gear on board for our special project, we quickly slipped in the water to join these gentle sharks as they peacefully glided through the krill with mouths open!

“A truly once-in-a-lifetime moment as basking sharks have become almost completely absent from waters around San Diego in the last decade, and are almost never seen in water this blue!”

Watch: Playful young whale twirls to the delight of boaters

Tourists in a Baja California lagoon enjoyed an extraordinary encounter last week when a gray whale calf twirled playfully within feet of the boat.

Tourists in a Baja California lagoon enjoyed an extraordinary encounter last week when a gray whale calf twirled playfully for a prolonged period within feet of their boat.

The accompanying footage, captured by Charlie Harmer of Silver Shark Adventures, shows the young whale spinning rapidly, as if showing off, as passengers laugh and cheer.

“That was amazing!” one of them exclaims afterward.

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

The unusual encounter occurred March 31 in Ojo de Liebre Lagoon, near the town of Guerrero Negro in the Mexican state of Baja California Sur.

Harmer told For The Win Outdoors that the mother and calf approached their boat and the calf became playful while mom simply “logged” or rested at the surface.

“Before we knew it, we noticed the calf blowing bubbles underneath us from time to time and doing these barrel rolls or spins off the side of the boat,” Harmer said. “Most were a couple of spins but there were a couple of times when it would spin and pick up speed with each spin.

“Everyone got really excited. It seemed like the calf was feeding off our energy and continued to spin. I’ve witnessed this behavior before from large adults but at a much slower pace. I’ve never seen a calf spin like this.”

The encounter, enjoyed by passengers from San Diego and Seattle, lasted five hours. Harmer described it as “one of the coolest days I’ve ever had in 10-plus years with a mom-and-calf pair.”

He added: “We all agreed we should name this whale ‘Twirly’ because of all the spinning and twirling it was doing.”

Baja California’s lagoons are seasonal nursing grounds for thousands of gray whales that migrate from Arctic waters during the winter.

The northbound migration back to summer feeding grounds off Alaska is underway but mothers with calves are generally last to leave the lagoons.

Mysterious shark steals spotlight on whale-watching trip

A large salmon shark swam alongside a whale-watching vessel for several minutes last Friday off Southern California, to the astonishment of passengers and crew.

They were astonished not merely because of the shark’s proximity, but because they could not initially figure out what type of shark they were watching.

“All I knew was that it was something that I hadn’t seen before,” Alisa Schulman-Janiger, a whale researcher and research associate with the Natural History Museum in Los Angeles, told For The Win Outdoors.

Salmon sharks, far more prevalent off Alaska, are not commonly spotted off Southern California. But their features – including a broad head and pointy snout, and white pigmentation on and near their gills – are distinctive.

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The sighting occurred at 11:02 a.m. in mid-channel between Oceanside and the east end of Santa Catalina Island, during an all-day whale-watching trip aboard the Ocean Adventures out of Dana Wharf Whale Watching.

Capt. Steve Burkhalter initially thought it was a mako shark before getting a closer look and noticing the peculiar characteristics, according to the Orange County Register.

Schulman-Janiger said there was no Internet service for hours, so nobody could research the sighting.

She texted a video clip to Eric Mailander, a longtime shark enthusiast, but the video did not reach Mailander until 4:27 p.m., as the vessel approached the shore and Internet service was restored.

Two minutes later, Mailander’s response reached Schulman-Janiger’s phone: “Salmon shark! You are so lucky!”

While the sighting was unusual, salmon sharks do frequent Southern California waters seasonally.

Chris Lowe, director of the Shark Lab at Cal State Long Beach, told For The Win Outdoors that he was not surprised.

“The Southern California Bight is the spring nursery and pupping grounds for white sharks, mako sharks, salmon sharks, common thresher and blue sharks,” Lowe said.

“Due to its high spring productivity this is where most of these sharks migrate thousands of kilometers to come here to give birth to their young, which use their first summers to take advantage of the warmer waters and greater food availability to tank up and grow rapidly.”

Lowe added: “Salmon sharks tagged in Alaska are known to migrate from the Gulf of Alaska to Hawaii and Southern California to give birth and then migrate back to Alaska to feed.”

Schulman-Janiger said other sharks were spotted during the whale-watching trip, but they were fleeting glimpses and the sharks could not be identified. Passengers did enjoy a prolonged “mugging” by a minke whale, and saw fin whales and gray whales, along with two types of common dolphins.

“But most people were talking about the shark all day,” she said.

Salmon sharks, which can measure 10-plus feet, prey largely on salmon, sea otters, squid, sea birds, and several fish species.

–Images courtesy of Alisa Schulman-Janiger

Watch: Tourist drenched by gray whale; ‘I was sprayed on purpose’

Beatriz Moreno knows a thing or two about stinky whale breath after her close encounter with a gray whale recently in Mexico.

Beatriz Moreno knows a thing or two about stinky whale breath.

Moreno, 30, was watching gray whales recently in Mexico’s Ojo de Liebre Lagoon when one of the mammals paused alongside the charter boat.

The accompanying footage shows the Glendale, Calif., resident positioning herself near the whale so Charlie Harmer, owner of Silver Shark Adventures, could capture footage of her wonderful encounter.

But at almost the precise moment when Harmer directed Moreno to look toward the camera, the whale exhaled a plume directly into her face and mouth, prompting a mixed reaction of joy and disgust.

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It’s clear that Harmer, who runs whale-watching expeditions at Ojo Liebre from February into April, had set up his client. But the timing was so perfect that viewers might wonder whether the whale’s action also was intentional.

“It feels like they do it on purpose,” Harmer told For The Win Outdoors. “That’s why I set her up, because I could see it happening based on the body language from the whale. I’ve been observing them for 10-plus years there, and after hundreds of encounters I can guess when this is going to happen.”

Said Moreno of the early March encounter: “The thing I feel when I play that video now and look back is just how human these animals are. They’re playful and there’s no doubt in my mind that I was sprayed on purpose.”

Call it an initiation of sorts.

Ojo de Liebre Lagoon and other Baja California lagoons are seasonal nursing and mating grounds for thousands of gray whales. During their stay, before they migrate back to feeding grounds off Alaska, they often interact with tourists on small boats.

The whales are curious and sometimes allow tourists to touch and stroke their skin, and because they exhale powerfully as part of their breathing process, tourists are sometimes sprayed.

Moreno said that throughout her time in the lagoon she was “mesmerized and incredibly aware of what a once-in-a lifetime type of moment I was living.”

Despite being pranked, she said she would gladly receive another gray whale drenching.

“Maybe this time I would close my mouth, though,” she joked.

Seabird’s masterpiece strongly resembles revered fish species

A seabird on Monday, while flying over a blue canvass boat cover, produced a splendid rendering of an ocean sunfish, or Mola mola.

A seabird on Monday, utilizing a blue canvass boat cover, produced a splendid rendering of an ocean sunfish, or Mola mola.

“Never knew gulls could be so artistic,” Kate Cummings, owner of Blue Ocean Whale Watch,” stated on Facebook.

Followers of the whale-watching company in Moss Landing, Calif., immediately recognized the dropping as being similar in appearance to the peculiar-looking Mola mola.

“Cut the material off and sell it on eBay for 1M,” reads one of dozens of comments.

Another echoed the sentiment: “Put some resin on it and make it into jewelry.”

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Mola mola, which roam the oceans slurping sea jellies and other small prey, can measure 10 feet and weigh up 5,000 pounds. They’re the world’s heaviest bony fish and among the most easily recognizable fish species.

Cummings told For The Win Outdoors that she noticed the shape of the gull’s dropping as she was removing the flybridge cover from one of her boats.

“It was immediate,” she said. “I’d be embarrassed about turning this into news if it wasn’t so uncanny.”

Because the fish are so goofy looking and docile, sightings are cherished by boaters as they search for whales and other marine mammals.

Reads another comment on Cummings’ Facebook page: “I want a bird to do this to me!”

Watch: Blue whale ‘explodes out of the sea like a submarine’

An eco-tourism operator in Mexico recently captured rare footage showing blue whales breaking the surface while racing side by side in Mexico’s Sea of Cortez.

Blue whales, which can measure 100 feet and weigh more than 150 tons, are the largest creatures to have inhabited the planet. Though swift and powerful, they’re not often observed exhibiting such high-energy behavior.

“We were all stunned and excited, and knew what we were seeing was exceptionally rare,” Charlie Harmer, owner of Silver Shark Adventures, said of the mid-February encounter. “I still can’t believe it.”

On Friday, Harmer published another clip from the same day, showing a single blue whale in slow motion, breaching at 20 mph against a Baja California desert backdrop. (Video posted below.)

https://www.instagram.com/p/CMn24fgBCCi/

His Instagram introduction reads, ”A blue whale, the largest animal species on earth, exploding out of the sea like a submarine.”

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An apt description of a scene that reveals the immense power and majesty of a sleek mammal designed for seemingly effortless propulsion.

The footage was captured off Bahia de los Angeles, a vast biosphere reserve on Baja California’s eastern shore, about 400 miles from Southern California.

Harmer, whose company keeps a boat in the bay for seven-day adventures, said the two blue whales measured about 80 feet. The behavior might have been part of courtship, or merely competition.

Gray whale displays calf to boaters, image stirs emotions

After Capt. Alushe Camacho shared an extraordinary image Tuesday, showing a gray whale hoisting her calf almost entirely out of the water, his Facebook followers were quick to respond.

“What a beautiful photo,” one person wrote.

“The perfect shot at the perfect time,” another admirer stated.

But because the sight was so striking, with the large calf draped over its momma’s back and appearing motionless, some wondered whether it might be injured or dead.

https://www.facebook.com/alushe00/posts/3911330908965052

Additionally, there are scars on the calf’s back and its eye appears to be only partially open.

“Alive? Did you see him moving?” Asked Erin Johns Gless, a U.S.-based researcher.

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The image was captured last season, before the COVID-19 pandemic, in Magdalena Bay off Puerto Adolfo Lopez Mateos, in the Mexican state of Baja California Sur.

Baja California’s lagoons are winter nursing grounds for thousands of gray whales, famous for intimately close interactions between the curious mammals and tourists.

Momma whales occasionally play with their calves, and sometimes appear to show them off to boaters.

But behavior such as that captured by Camacho, with a larger calf being lifted so high, has not been widely documented.

Wrote Johns Gless: “I’ve seen mothers push their babies to help them breathe, but I’ve never seen one completely out of water like this on the mother’s back. If you saw it move, that’s okay, but this is very different than anything I’ve ever seen.”

She mentioned a well-documented case in which a Southern Resident killer whale, in 2018, carried her dead calf for more than two weeks off Canada and the northwestern U.S. in what seemed a period of grieving.

Camacho, whose family has run Pirates Tours for nearly 40 years, assured Johns Gless and others on the thread that the whale calf was alive and healthy, and that he would not have shared the image if that weren’t the case.

“It’s normal for whales to play with their mother and climb on her body,” he said.

Camacho, 33, told For The Win Outdoors that he has been leading tours since he was 21. He said a client captured the image and he’s the man standing at the stern of the skiff, wearing a red cap.

“Since I am the captain of that boat, I want to assure you that I saw that calf alive and swimming,” he said.

Gray whales are currently leaving the lagoons for their northbound migration to summer feeding grounds off Alaska. Mothers with calves are the last to exit the lagoons.

–Image courtesy of Capt. Alushe Camacho

Curious whale swims to boaters, hilariously spouts in their faces

After a mesmerizing period in which Delaney Trowbridge sat at the vessel’s bow, staring into the eyes of a humpback whale from just feet away, an obvious phenomenon occurred.

The whale, needing to breathe, rose slightly and exhaled powerfully toward Trowbridge and others on the boat, providing them with an evening shower and the memory of a lifetime.

Trowbridge, who had been holding out her phone to document the sighting, later joked via Instagram: “To any researchers out there, I’ve got a lovely DNA sample for you all over my phone and hands.”

The remarkably intimate encounter occurred late Tuesday aboard Newport Coastal Adventure’s inflatable passenger boat. The top video clip shows Capt. Ryan Lawler’s perspective, with Trowbridge at the bow.

Featured below is an Instagram clip captured by Trowbridge, providing her “straight whale spout to iPhone” point of view.

The humpback whale had been swimming alongside boats for several days off southern Orange County, exhibiting a behavior described as “mugging.”

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On Tuesday, Lawler and his small charter waited until the other crews left for their respective ports before motoring into the area.

“Then it was just us and the whale,” he told For The Win Outdoors. “And sure enough after following alongside the whale for another 15 minutes it decided to come over. So we totally stopped the boat and until the sun set this whale kept circling our boat.”

For Trowbridge, a photographer and naturalist for Newport Coastal Adventure, the experience was deeply moving.

Delaney Trowbridge after receiving a whale breath to the face

“I think whale muggings are so unique because you’re completely at the mercy of this giant animal, but there’s absolutely no fear. It’s just pure joy,” she said. “I had never seen a whale’s eye more clearly in my life, and it was amazing just how fixated on us it was.”

“It would swim past us, and underwater you’d see it turn around to come back. Encounters like this genuinely leave you breathless – the sight of such a powerful animal just inches away from you is just incredible.”

Humpback whales can measure to about 50 feet and weigh nearly 40 tons. They’re famous for their dramatic breaches and their apparent curiosity people watching them from boats.

Lawler said that at one point he placed his hand above the whale and splashed the water. The whale responded by “blowing a giant bubble blast on the surface.”

Rare synchronized blue whale ‘breach’ leaves boaters stunned

The mere sight of blue whales swimming near the surface can take a person’s breath away. But to watch the massive leviathans swim at high speed and breach like dolphins?

The mere sight of blue whales swimming near the surface can take a person’s breath away. But to watch the massive cetaceans race alongside the boat and break the surface like dolphins?

“We were all stunned and excited, and knew what we were seeing was exceptionally rare,” Charlie Harmer, owner of Silver Shark Adventures, told For The Win Outdoors. “I still can’t believe it.”

Harmer’s crew captured the accompanying footage last Monday in Bahia de los Angeles in Mexico’s Sea of Cortez. It shows two blue whales racing side by side at 20 mph and porpoising as three passengers, Harmer, and his captain watched in awe.

“I still can’t believe it,” Harmer said.

Blue whales are the largest animals ever to have inhabited the planet. They can measure 100 feet and weigh more than 150 tons. They’re rarely observed engaging in racing behavior, which could involve courtship or merely competition.

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Silver Shark Adventures posted the clip to Facebook, inspiring dozens of comments, including this from California-based whale researcher, Alisa Schulman-Janiger:

“We saw this same rare behavior off of Santa Cruz Island in Southern California a few months ago; I have seen this less than a dozen times over 40 years.”

Harmer told For The Win Outdoors that the whales measured about 80 feet and the encounter lasted 20 minutes.

His company moors a boat in Bahia de los Angeles year-round and most clients drive from Southern California, 400 miles down the Baja California peninsula, for seven-day adventures.

The vast bay and its many islands are protected as a biosphere reserve. Its nutrient-rich waters teem with life.

States Harmer on the Silver Shark Adventures website: “My dream is to give our guests the feeling they have experienced something that is truly ‘once in a lifetime.’ Something to check off their ‘bucket list.’

–Images courtesy of Silver Shark Adventures