GuyGadois
08-21-2012, 11:21 PM
Last weekend my son and I heard there were some whales feeding at our local beach, Avila Beach so we headed down with a kayak and had an amazing time. When we got there there only seemed to be one feeding. The whale would come up for air every minute or so and make a large loop and then after 5 to 7 minutes of doing that would suddenly and quite randomly shoot up to or so feet vertically in the air and swallow a bunch of fish.
The water was teaming with wildlife. There were about a thousand brown pelicans (I didn't count them exactly so maybe there was a million), hundreds of sea lions, dozens of porpoises a few dolphin in the small area. The only short warning you received was a sudden interest from the Pelicans. They would dive bomb a "a bait ball" from about 40 feet up in what can only be described as World War II London-like complete with sounds and impact on the water. We never got hit by them by them came within feet of the kayak and soak us.
The sea lions were playful and the porpoises also having fun. The whale never hit our kayak but a gentleman near us was thrown off his as the whale went vertical. It was truly a great experience and best of all I got to share it with my son.
Here are a few photos. I was too slow fumbling the camera to get a close one - half scared and half in awe.
This is a photo when we got buzzed out of nowhere.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7131/7835851686_6d1c86a382_b.jpg
The dive bombing begins!
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8306/7835852138_d5d0e64eba_b.jpg
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8446/7835852558_ef343897f2_b.jpg
The water was teaming with wildlife. There were about a thousand brown pelicans (I didn't count them exactly so maybe there was a million), hundreds of sea lions, dozens of porpoises a few dolphin in the small area. The only short warning you received was a sudden interest from the Pelicans. They would dive bomb a "a bait ball" from about 40 feet up in what can only be described as World War II London-like complete with sounds and impact on the water. We never got hit by them by them came within feet of the kayak and soak us.
The sea lions were playful and the porpoises also having fun. The whale never hit our kayak but a gentleman near us was thrown off his as the whale went vertical. It was truly a great experience and best of all I got to share it with my son.
Here are a few photos. I was too slow fumbling the camera to get a close one - half scared and half in awe.
This is a photo when we got buzzed out of nowhere.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7131/7835851686_6d1c86a382_b.jpg
The dive bombing begins!
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8306/7835852138_d5d0e64eba_b.jpg
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8446/7835852558_ef343897f2_b.jpg