Thar she blows!!!!!!!!! (Massive dial up warning)

This morning I was innocently staining Mini-Alley's bedroom hardwood floor. Around 11'ish I got an e-mail inviting me out on a racing yacht I occasionally help crew. Quicker then you can say "Alley this stain needs to dry" I was out the door.

Me and a bud named Stan.



Today's crew



At first the sail was pretty bland, light winds and all. Then the dolphins showed up.

Dolphin here



Dolphin there



Dolphins everywhere



This is so L.A.: Stan is steering the tiller with is toes while talking on his cell phone.



We were about to head in when a 70' or so long Blue Whale with a 40' calf in tow showed up and kinda hung out feeding about 2 miles off the Redondo Beach coast.

Azzure Madonna and child

http://s99.photobucket.com/albums/l306/Puerco-bellies/?action=view¤t=Sept409181.flv

Another view.

http://s99.photobucket.com/albums/l306/Puerco-bellies/?action=view¤t=Sept409169.flv

Yours truly steering us home.



Thanks for looking

I love seeing the dolphins, too. Thanks for showing them.

If not the first one is definitely worth it.

I had missed those. Very nice.

Oh, yeah, great pics!

And yes, I did look at the videos...Wow!

I KNOW you had some good fun, sweetie!

Thanks for sharing...

:hi:

Thanks for looking. It sure beat waiting for the 2nd coat of stain to dry. Tomorrow I will seal the floor with a gloss coat.. Big fun.

though sometimes your pictures make me so homesick I can hardly stand it. I'm from southern California, living in the mountains of NC, and no matter how lovely it is here, my heart aches for the ocean.

That first video is so cool! Thank you again! Looks like you had a great time.

Do you ever come back out this way?

sister in San Diego... work and other things have kept me from getting back too often.

thank you SO much for those wonders!

Now, I'm seasick. No, I really am - but it was worth it. They're great!

:toast:

Sea sick, really? :hug:

:D

:hi:

Thanks for sharing those! :hi:

And wow, that whale video is fantastic!

On the first video we all felt the spray from the larger whale. Umm, whale lougie?

The videos are wonderful. I'm so envious. Thanks for sharing. Looks a lot more fun than staining hardwood :)


:hi:

aA

That was most definitively more fun then gloss coating a floor.

And the vids are nice too. I've seen dolphins but never whales. They must be spectacular!

The deep sound they make when breathing is something you will never forget. Blue Whales are not so common so close to shore so this was a special treat.

Good day to play hooky from the chores.

Oh well, it's now adult time.

great pictures... love dolphins (although I was hoping for a whale pic in there;-) )

I have two lower quality videos, both with fluke shots which is the way to I.D. the species.

:thumbsup:

I was on the river all day yesterday :) I forgot my camera though x( and, of course there were no dolphins or whales ;)

I hate when that happens.

Thank you for sharing this with us! :D

Anytime.

I am so jealous of you seeing blue whales!

Whey they are just below the surface they are a bright blue, hence the name. Otherwise they are gray in color.

I've seen dolphins before in the wild and it is a beautiful sight! I haven't seen whales yet, but it is a big dream for me. Thanks for your pictures and video. Truly stunning :)

I am not very familiar with that body of water.

I would love to take a trip specifically to watch whales. Your post inspired me to look up YouTube videos last night and I found this one about 2 men in a small boat with a pod of Humpback whales. The sound effects of the men are priceless!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cg9vEmbdqF4

A friend of me went sailing on the shores of Italy and sent me some cool dolphin pics, too. First time he saw them, and was most amazed. :hi:

Did you click on the whale video links?

And yes, watched it. Beautiful. Sometimes I miss the sea, the flat blue line on the eternal horizon, but in the end, even it sounds strange, I like to have a lake in sight of here, with the other shore visible.

I actually felt cooled off just watching the videos! One reason I love cruising to Mexico is the whale watching off the ship. I could spend hours on deck with my binoculars just looking for the spouts!

It's hot and smokey up here in the desert because of the fires. Nice to see the blue sky and ocean.

I'm thinking of using Red Rock State Park off Hwy 14 has an alternate Dark Sky location for setting up my telescope.

In a tiny town about 20 miles east of Apple Valley. No city lights here!

Grew up in Long Beach and lived in San Diego for awhile.

Want to go back! :cry:

Thanks for the memories! :hi:

Was he ordering lattes for when the boat returned to dock? :rofl:

Thanks for the pics, looks like a great time was had by all! :hi: