March 10, 2025, Monday

2 North Bound 0 South Bound 6.5 hrs

Flat glassy seas with clear views to Catalina Island on and off. Light to no wind with 1-2 foot shore break waves. Mostly overcast with hazy gray skies and peeks of blue on and off throughout the day.

Helicopters were extra loud today compared to the calm flat ocean sounds.

Pelican squadrons skimmed close to the water today several times in large numbers.

Sun Halo observed twice today. It is an atmospheric phenomenon, that happens when light is refracted from the suns rays in ice crystals in the clouds. The results is a large ring of color that appears like a halo around the sun. The colors most seen are red closest to the sun, yellow then blue but all colors can be seen in the right circumstances. Todays Sun Halos appeared vibrant but hard to capture the enormity of their presence due to harsh brightness at the center and harsh glare on the flat calm seas. Still fun to see and enjoy on this gray day.

Two solo Gray Whales in the last light of the day. Both were THIN and underweight. There was a dip behind the head where a fat pad should be. They also had protruding scapula or shoulder blades. One whale had sunken area along the spine indicating emaciation or severe malnutrition.

The first whale sighting skimmed along the transect. It did not dive deep. It looked like a possible cow/calf pair. However, close inspection with binoculars and photos showed it was clearly one whale. The whale had visible dorsal knuckle area on the water surface, while the long lines of the thoracic region were visible at the same time. The whale fluked and turned in closer to shore with each dive allowing better looks at the body condition.

The second whale sighting. It was escorted in by large coastal Bottlenose Dolphins. They interacted and circled the whale. The whale began spyhopping and changing directions in one area while getting closer to shore as dolphins also changed directions close to the whale, appearing to get too close for this slow moving underweight whale and a large bubble blast was seen, it swashed its fluke strongly above water and traveled on.

One last note: Marine Mammal Rescue (MMR) was out looking for a pelican that was called in at the very end of the day along Westward Beach. Last year, in 2024 and in 2022 Brown Pelicans suffered from a Mass Stranding event with dehydration and malnutrition despite being observed actively feeding in many frenzy events along the Point Dume Beach.

If you see a dead shore bird please Report to California Department of Fish and Wildlife. For live animals on shore please call the number below:

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