This was my first boat trip, and the first time I got to meet anyone from the POD team. I have been doing my own research for a little over month but have just started to dig in lately. I have made a number of fin id's on my own and hope to get some matches on this trip. Anyway.. On board today are Lindsay Griffin, Lindsey Eltinge, Pod Director Dr Toni Frohoff, Captain Jim Klein, and myself, Don Jayne. What a boat. The FINADDICT is a 38' Radon Sportfisher. The boat is fully equipped to say the least and highly recommended. I didn't even know they made a Radon this size. Ok well.. Off we go.
9:45 - We are heading out. I had seen at least 3 pods down my way along the Rincon so off we went. I kind of wanted to go the other way towards the Ranch... Maybe another day. Samy's Camera was cool enough to loan Lindsay a Canon D40 with the same lens I use. EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L. Brooks graduate, Lindsey was in the cabin giving Lindsay some last minute photography tips. I should have been in there myself. I don’t know what I was doing but I heard the word “RAW” and I knew that word locks up my computer every time, so I went outside. I am really stoked, and grateful to be aboard with this crew. Our mission today. Try to get some good shots which can be used later for Dorsal Fin Identification. Easier said than done.10:00 - We are already on our first pod. Just off the Biltmore and Coral Casino in Montecito. Good job Jim. I am going to have to start writing some notes down because my mental notes are starting to get a bit fuzzy. I think there were about 5 in this group and, I don’t know about the girls but, I really ended up with nothing from this pod. Timing and luck is everything in this game... Oh!! and a fast autofocus! Composition and all your other photo skills don't really mean a thing. Just looking for a clean detailed profile shot of the Dorsal Fin. Well. My first thought was. This was way easier from the beach. Anyway as far as I can remember these guys did come in close a few times. You know.. I thought I had my timing down with all the surf shots I have been getting but these guys are underwater and kind of unpredictable most of the time. They zipped around us for a bit, a little curious, might have been feeding, and then continued heading north. By 10:15 we are heading south. One thing I really like about Toni is her concern for the dolphins’ well being, and we are trying to be as non-invasive as possible, so if it seems like the dolphins are tired of us, we will head out…
10:45 - Passing by Santa Claus Lane. You can tell its summer because the surf camps are set up wall to wall on this tiny stretch of beach. No fins though.
11:00 - We are already in Rincon Bay according to Jim... I call it Bates Beach and the Carpinteria Bluffs. Really I call it my backyard and I spend a ridiculous amount of time walking in both directions with Riley looking for magic sea glass. Still no dolphins, but there is a big male sea lion surrounded by a bevy of beautiful sea lionesses, so break the cameras out! Apparently the polyamorous lifestyle is quite popular off the coast. More on that one later. Well I just saw a pretty good size pod of 8-12 here on Monday but, today it is as flat as a lake so maybe that explains it. We head pass Indicator and into the cove.11:17 - We are passing my house and the sleepy seaside town of La Conchita del Mar. I can almost see Riley lying on a very sandy couch because there was no time to give him a rinse this morning.
11:30 – I’m hungry as we are rounding Arco Island and passing by my one my favorite spots for lunch. “The Shoals at the Cliffhouse Inn” Some Dolphins’ thought it would be a good idea for me to get married here and swam by and gave us their blessing right during our ceremony. I guess they only blessed us for 3 years.. What do those practical jokers know about monogamy anyway? Seriously.. I knew that dolphins were among the only animals besides us that have sex for pure enjoyment, but I always thought they mated for life. I used that line in many an argument. “look at those dolphins they can stay together, so can we” Ok now. Well that’s out the window... Thanks for clueing me on to that Lindsay. By 11:45 we are passing Hobson’s and turning around. No fins. Time for lunch.
12:47 – We needed to get some new profile shots for our facebook pages so Lindsay, Toni, and I pretend to spot some dolphins of the coast of Sandyland and the Carpinteria Salt Marsh. Got some good ones!
1:11 – We are back in the dolphin research business. Just off the northern end of Summerland in front of the cool secret house you can’t see from the freeway is another small pod of 3 -4. Ok. Whatever you see, there is probably 1 or 2 more. From an early check on the photo one of these guy’s looks like a dolphin I nicked named Simon Anderson. Not only the inventor of the Thruster and, grizzled veteran of the ASP tour but, also one of my first fin ID shots. I will have to do more work on that but, right now I am having huge problems with my database. This is pretty cool, and the whole idea behind this project, great. Get to know you local dolphins.. Got a few good fin id’s from these guys and by the time we hit Sharks Cove...1:48 – I will call them the Gumby Pod because someone painted a cool little Gumby on the seawall at Sharks. Well... This was the most entertaining group of the day. Jumping, spinning, flying, bumping into each other, and popping up all over the place. There were 4 of them and they looked to be having plenty of fun. Almost always staying pretty close together but at one point 2 of them swam way behind us and came back trying to trick us in to believing there were 6. Those practical jokers. I could hear them laughing when they went by but.. I did get a few good shots. Well these guys and girls were up to something without question. We stayed with them till about 2:30 all the way to Hammonds. There was even a little sea lion trying to get in on the action jumping and porpoising all over the place. Nice..
2:39 – We are in the harbor. Perfect day but I did miss an opportunity to have my shark photo published by the Independent. Maybe I should get an IPhone. Naaaaa..
