April 15th, 2023 Saturday

2 North Bound 1 Calf 0 South Bound 6.5 hrs

Sunny 64 degrees 53 degree water temperature. Calm ocean with 1-2 ft waves and light 3-5 mph WNW wind. The Condor Squadron from Van Nuys flew by today in historic World War II A-T6 training planes. The planes flew in a tight formation south and circled back north then ended with a smoke trail as it went towards the point south again, thrilling beach goers.

One cow /calf pair of gray whales came in close and stayed for over an hour displaying multiple behaviors including: rolling, head lifts, active bottom feeding, possible surface feeding with wide open mouth views of baleen. The calf remained near the mom as the pair slowly drifted down the transect stopping every few minutes to feed and interact. The Calf’s rostrum (head) was covered in large barnacles. It also has two round white patches on the dorsal side of the fluke. The cow (mother) is underweight with a large ID spot on the right flank under the water line. There is a loss of body volume in her rostrum and cervical neck area but still has a rotund mid section which is not concave or sunken.

Lifeguard Tower-1 was out today for the first time in 2023. Placement is up in the parking lot due to heavy winter storms with high winds, rain and rough surf causing massive erosion and loss of sand. Typically the Lifeguard Tower is placed mid beach but this year the incline is too steep and top layer of sand has eroded away down to the more solidified layer of sand that has accumulated over decades.

Late afternoon, a large pod of 1,000+ common dolphins were observed off shore heading north west towards the horizon, stampeding across the transect. Near shore 3-5 coastal bottlenose headed north (west) in the surf line. Wind picked up at sunset with choppy rough waves and a marine layer blocking the islands views.