Wednesday, April 20, 2011

New 52 | Week 16: Whale(less) Watching

Wow, for a minute I didn't know what week we're on! It's amazing that it's already Week 16 in New 52 this year.

Todd and I took the day off last Friday to go whale-watching. We had purchased 2 whale-watching tickets on thedailysave.com for 50% off. Great deal! Now, we've gone whale-watching before, so that part is not new. But the last time we actually saw whales on a whale-watching trip was back in 2000, before digital cameras. Then we went again in 2006 and didn't see any whales. So, I was hoping this time we would SEE whales and capture it on digital camera for all to see!

We went to lunch first at JV's Mexican down on Morena Blvd. Todd had been there before, a long time ago, when he was recording an album with The Northstar Session down there. He remembered it being good. It was awesome and authentic! I had two homemade tamales and they were fabulous. Not all Mexican places make tamales.

Then, on to Seaforth to get on the whale-watching boat. A view of the marina.


Our boat was called the "Eclipse".


As soon as we left the marina, we saw this little sea lion. What a cutie.


Then, we caught sight of some bottlenose dolphins, inside the bay!




Like my windblown look? It was very windy out there on the water!

Another thing about being out there on the Pacific Ocean... even though it was a very warm day (80 degrees), it's chilly on the water. It's always the case, even in the summer.

Some sailboats were out.


Todd caught some seagulls and pelicans flying over the water. Pretty cool pics!


We even saw a Navy submarine surfaced. This was as close as we were allowed to get.


The inside cabin of the boat had tables and bench seating, along with books about whales, dolphins, etc.




Point Loma sticking out there, in the distance.


We had taken some anti-seasick pills and they made both of us drowsy. So periodically we went back inside the cabin to put our head down and rest. Better that than our neighbors who threw up into clear ziplock bags! Gross! :-|

Suddenly, the captain and the naturalist on board said over the intercom that there was some kind of ray out there. So we went out to look.

Ooo, it actually was pretty big!

We were out there, 9 miles from shore, when we came upon a large pod of dolphins. They were spectacular! Just dolphins everywhere, going in and out of the water, following the wake of our boat!










It was pretty hard to catch a good picture of the dolphins. They moved fast and we didn't know where they were going to pop out of the water next. I caught a little bit on video here.



Like Todd's windblown look? :p


We thought a three-hour trip was a little long. After a while I was ready to be on land again. We didn't catch sight of any whales this time. I was a little disappointed, but the overall experience was good. Not many people can say they took a day off work and went on a boat into the ocean to look for whales, and found a large amount of dolphins. So I'm very happy we went! :)



PS - I know some of you are leaving links, and that's great! But you could ALSO leave comments on this post if you're so inclined. I love reading all your comments on my blog, but lately there's been less of them. I know you're still out there, and I miss you! :)

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About This Project

New52 is a project started by Peppermint and I to encourage each other and others around us to try something new every week in 2011. The "new" each week doesn't have to be something big. It could be something as simple as ordering a new dish instead of old standbys at your favorite restaurant. It's simply opening your heart up to NEW possibilities.

Don't worry if you're late getting started on joining in. It's totally OK if you miss a week here or there. We encourage everyone to keep an open mind about trying something new. This is a life project, and a photography/blog and even scrap challenge if you wish. If you participate this week, please leave a link to your blog post in the link list below. You can also post images to our New 52 Flickr Group! We would love to see what you were inspired to do.  

13 comments:

  1. That looks like fun! I agree though... 3 hours seems too much.

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  2. I always read, but never comment (I blame google reader!) so I wanted to give you some love :)
    Bummer you didn't see any whales but the dolphins must've been amazing to watch!!

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  3. okay, so the neighbors who threw up in the ziploc baggies kind of made me gag a bit. :(

    the trip sounds like so much fun, the boys watched the video with me and were very insistent that there were dolphins and also 'killer shark whales' which cracked me up. I think it would be so cool to see dolphins out in the ocean like that. Sorry you didn't get to see any whales, but looks like a pretty cool trip still.

    yes, and I am another slacker commenter :) I love your new kit, btw. I have bought and downloaded it and looked at how pretty it is, just trying to find time to actually scrap with it!

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  4. Please don't tell Todd, but I really laughed out loud when I saw his hair! Before I read the caption, I was thinking...holy wind blown hair-do! LOL

    And you missed us, you really missed us?! I'm so jealous of your adventures. Really. I'd never be able to 1/10 of what you guys do in a year. You are very lucky to live where you do!

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  5. Yes, I access your blog through google reader too so I always fall behind in writing comments as well.

    Your trip seemed pretty cool and not a bad way to spend the day off. We have winter whales here in hawaii too but we never went out searching for them. However, we went on an Alaskan cruise this summer and actually went on a whale watching expedition. We've been wanting to do that here in Hawaii. Maybe next winter?

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  6. Any real Californian knows that proper beach/ocean attire involves a decent coat. And if there is fog, possibly a heavy winter one. LOL!

    Looks like a fun trip even if you didn't see any whales. I wonder if that ray was actually an ocean sunfish? They are totally weird looking like that and they get huge - like 5-8 feet.

    We have a strict "no ocean boat" policy around here because Adam gets motion sickness really easily, but I did a whale watching trip in Canada many years ago with my family and it was SO cool. We saw a ton of orcas on our trip but some friends of ours went on the same exact trip only a week later and didn't see any. Whale watching is totally flaky like that.

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  7. Yes, it was a sunfish. I went and took the photos while Christine slept through it. It was weird and prehistoric looking.

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  8. Awboo for whale(less)! But yay for sunshine and sea lions and dolphins and sunfish some windblown time on the sea!

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  9. Hello! I found your blog via Simple Scrapper who touched on scrapbook albums that led me to one of her archived posts, with a link to you in it. Your CA life is making me nostalgic for our years around San Fran. We only made it down to San Diego once, something I regret greatly.

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  10. What fun! I love dolphins..so cute and playful..and swim really fast..and can kill a shark.

    That ray thing is funky.

    I'm waiting on the mailman to deliver my New 52. sigh.

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  11. I love the wind blown looks of both you and Todd. LOL

    I'm so behind on New 52. I'm hoping to catch up this week or next. Hoping but not counting on it. :(

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  12. PS I always leave blog love so blame those lurkers. LOL

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  13. What a fabulous excursion... this is on my bucket list!

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