Sanctuary Cruises - Captain's Log

12/13/03: Good-Bye Keiko/Our First Gray Whales of the Season
This morning, we heard Keiko the killer whale died. The news brought back a flood of memories. I thought of the filming of the movie around Astoria, Oregon when I lived there. The effort to get him out of a trashy water park in Mexico where he spent many years after being torn from his pod in Iceland. His time spent at the Newport Aquarium on the Oregon coast and how this time, it was different. Keiko wasn't stuck there for life; he was going home to the fjords of Iceland where he might someday join his pod once again. But it wasn't meant to be. He did make it to Iceland and has been there for years, but he couldn't make the break from humans. He died of pneumonia after a very brief illness.

So, was the effort worth it? I have to say yes. Too many people view wild animals as something meant only to entertain them. The argument has been made that animals in captivity help open the eyes of those who wouldn't care about them if they didn't see them in person. For animals that range thousands of miles in the sea with many generations of their families, such an an argument is nonsense. Keiko lived a tough life, but it served to illustrate what's wrong with how orcas are treated. This wouldn't have happened without him. Today, Keiko's spirit soars and he is free. Truly free.

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Sanctuary splashed last Monday. That's the term used for putting a boat back in the water after drydock. She came out looking great and went in looking even better, plus she got a new port engine to match the new starboard one she got in the spring.

We hoped to do sea trials Monday, but the mechanics weren't ready. Steph went to visit his kids and grandkids in the northwest, so I planned to pick up Sanctuary and possibly run her for the two hour break-in period. One delay after another kept her from being ready. Yesterday, Steph--fresh from Seattle--got the honor.

He called to tell me he was 3.5 miles out of the harbor and was watching four California gray whales. Our first of the season and well inside their usual track for crossing the bay! Our odyssey with the whales began with the grays, so every year we greet them as old friends. I don't care what the calendar says, it is now officially winter.

Tonight, we will revisit our beginnings here with the whales when we present a slide show at Monterey Bay Kayaks on Del Monte. It began on a day in January when Steph and I paddled out to see the grays. As you can tell from this picture of me with two of them, it was a magical experience. MBK offers whale watching paddles to see the gray whales and if you're an experienced paddler, you really should consider joining them. They're a great company and their tours are spectacular.

We'll cover all of the whales and dolphins seen on the central coast year-round and tell about some of the fantastic experiences we've had. If you'd like to attend our slide show, it's at 6:30, open to the public and free. Directions are on their web site.

Sanctuary hasn't been the only item that has failed to come in on schedule. Our new embroidered caps and shirts hit a snag (ha! Get it?) when we decided to completely change the new design. It is now being digitized and will be really attractive. I've created a cool color combination that we will run in both a flashy version and a toned down version. There will also be a very simple version, but all will have a gorgeous whale's tail in the center with water splashing from the base. It's surrounded by "SANCTUARY CRUISES." Below is "ON THE MONTEREY BAY" and on the back, "MOSS LANDING." They will be worth the wait.

Call 831.643.0128 to order our cozy hooded sweatshirts, T-shirts, necklaces, Gift Certificates and Season's Passes. You can also go to our secure Store on the web site for clothing orders using PayPal (very easy to use and after a quick registration, you'll also be able to shop ebay!).

That's the news from our spot in the world. Be sure to take time for yourselves this holiday season and do something good for somebody who can really use it. Donate the big 4: Food, Clothes, Money and Blood. You will be richer for the experience.

See you out there.

12/2/03: Spirited Visitations on the Bay
Thanksgiving Week provided more than a few surprises for us. Rather than finding fewer whales than we’ve seen during peak months, we saw more! Not only that, but they included humpbacks, blues and several sightings of a sperm whale. The dolphins were out in force as well, especially one of the largest concentrations of Risso’s we have ever seen here!

And if sheer numbers weren’t enough, the whales’ behavior was off the scale, too. We had dramatic lunge feeding, exuberant breaches out of the water and some spy hops so close to our boats that we could count the throat grooves on the animal. It was a spectacular week and not one we will easily forget, which gives you some idea of the impact these adventures had on our passengers.

People are anxious to compare what they see on their cruise with what we see on other trips. Several days in a row, we assured them they’d just gotten the peak experience the Monterey Bay has to offer, despite our cautious insistence when they made reservations that it was anyone’s guess what would be out there this time of year.

Sometimes, nature is more subtle, whispering rather than shouting. Not thunderous explosions, more like tiny bells on a distant wind. But the effect can be equally impressive and memorable. Earlier in November, Steph performed a lovely wedding for Anita Martinez and Brent Borgstede aboard Princess of Whales. Brent’s father, Charles, reminded us that we had taken him and his son out on the bay to scatter his wife’s ashes in 2001. Steph ran that cruise and he was touched by Mr. Borgstede's sense of loss. I clearly recall him coming home and saying, “That poor man…”

After the wedding, Mr. Borgstede described a most unusual occurrence from his earlier cruise. He had cast his wife’s ashes into the water at the back of the boat. Then he and his son scattered red rose petals on the surface. After a brief moment, they let Steph know they were ready to head back to port. As Steph gently engaged the engines, the water swirled, concentrating and shaping the rose petals into a distinct “S.” What impact would an “S” on the water have to a grieving husband and son? Considerable, I’d say, since the wife and mother they’d just buried at sea was named Sara. See you out there.

December News:
Sanctuary had her annual Coast Guard inspection yesterday and she sailed through it with ease, as usual thanks to Steph's dedication and hard work. This morning, Steph drove her into the slings at Gravelle's Boatyard in Moss Landing for her annual haul-out, so we won't be running this week. While hauled, her port main engine will be re-built. We did the starboard main last spring and even though this is an expensive way to end the year, it's the right thing to do. A tired engine uses more oil and isn't as efficient. Same as with using biodiesel, we know this works for the environment.

Put a WHALE under the tree! Gift certificates are a stunningly easy present to give. With one call, you can order one or several. They can be mailed to you or the recipient. We can even email the recipient for really late shoppers, so there's no chance of a hang up in the mail. Each gift certificate comes with a full color rack card and the recipient chooses the date, so there's no pressure on you. Call 831.643.0128 to order.

Our new silkscreened Sanctuary Cruises hooded sweatshirts are here and they're gorgeous! Colors include red, black and navy blue in sizes from kids through XXL adults. For a real splurge, give a pair of hooded sweats with gift certificates tucked in the kangaroo pockets and top it off with our new embroidered caps, which will arrive next week. T-shirts in new colors are also in and ready to go. Call for details.

Season's Passes are $320.00 for $400.00 worth of cruises. They can be in the form of one certificate good for 10 adult cruises over any span of time or ten individual tickets which will, surprisingly enough, fit perfectly into a stocking on the mantel. I will tuck in some of my private stock of cool whale and dolphin stickers for you to doll up the package, if you remind me to.

If you have a favorite person who is struggling with challenges of any kind, give him or her By the Grace of the Sea by former Santa Cruz resident Pat Henry. Her story of leaving Santa Cruz feeling she was a failure, then going on to become the first American woman to sail around the world alone (and with little and sometimes NO money) is a great tale for everyone who battles demons and dreams. We have signed copies for $24.95.

11/24/03: Thanksgiving 2003
Last week, I commented to Steph, “Well, it’s been over a month since we saw a blue whale, so I guess they really are gone for the season. Funny, though, isn’t it? They usually trickle out in late fall. We see them in smaller numbers, but we see them! This year, it’s as though they all left the same day. Remember the year we saw our last blue whale of the season on New Year’s Day?”

Yeah,” he nodded. “That one stayed later than usual, but still, we usually see them later than this.”

We wonder what the signal to migrate is for whales that feed here. In the Arctic, where the gray whales spend their summers feeding, ice has a lot to do with it. As the ice forms and moves south, the whales understand its time to head out. We don’t have ice here, but maybe it’s the opposite. Since our winter waters are usually warmer than summer’s, perhaps our “summer whales” sense it’s time to go when the water warms. Or are they like us after a big holiday dinner? Barely able to push away from the table after gorging for months, do the blues and humpbacks mumble something along the lines of, “I couldn’t eat one more krill!” and totter south?

I fielded several calls for reservations that morning last week and when asked what the chances were of seeing whales, I went through the list: Humpbacks are still here. We’re seeing several kinds of dolphins and porpoises. It’s a little early for the gray whales that will be here in huge numbers soon, but the blues are definitely gone for the year. Chances of seeing whales about 50-50 or better. Maybe 75% or better for dolphins. A good chance of seeing both whales and dolphins, but not excellent, as it will be a month from now.

Whatever the signal, we had a surprise coming the same day I admitted the blue whales had apparently checked out en masse for southern climes. Up to my ears in salmon and albacore, which I was filleting and freezing to get us through winter, I said unkind things to the telephone in response to its ring. Steph was on the other end: “You’ll never believe what we’ve been looking at out here!” he exclaimed. I smelled a rat. A big one. “A blue whale?” I asked. “Nope,” he answered, “THREE blue whales! And now humpbacks!” I amended my updates with callers. Make that humpbacks AND blues, again.

This emphasizes my point that every time you try to pin nature down into blacks and whites, it will prove you wrong. I don’t know whether to chalk its vagaries up to chance or to think of it as a diabolical plot to keep me honest and/or confused, but once again, it has succeeded in doing both.

The world is a more unsettled place these days and a lot of people are in need. Please join us in making contributions to food banks such as Second Harvest and the Salvation Army. This is a great time to go through your drawers and closets, culling the clothes you don't wear and donating them to organizations. We try to go directly to those in need through crisis centers and a phone call or two will hook you up with one in your area. Happy Thanksgiving and... See you out there.

We are operating Wednesday through Sunday this coming week, including Thanksgiving Day. Our buddy Scott will run the Thanksgiving trip because Steph and I have a date with our motorcycles in the Santa Cruz mountains. Scott is a King's Point Maritime Academy graduate with years of experience on the bay and with whales. If you feel like a cruise on the holiday, you'll enjoy him. Cruises are $40 for adults, $30 for kids 2-12 and $10 for kids under 2.

We pick up our brand new embroidered caps this coming week and they include a new logo and hot new colors. Plus, we've done some knit beanies, fleece caps and old fashioned fishermen's caps. A cool Christmas idea would be a gift certificate for whale watching tucked in one of the caps. Give me a call for colors and details.

We also have a gorgeous new long sleeve black women's T-shirt with an attractive scoop neck and the new logo embroidered in the center. And our silkscreened shirts have been beefed up with new colors and lots of hooded sweatshirts for kids and adults in black, red, royal and navy blue. Some have the CREW print on the back with, "WILL WORK FOR WHALES." Prices range from $15 up to around $30.

Gift Certificates and Season's Passes--both in the form of one single certificate that can be used at any time for any number of people or in the form of ten individual tickets which may be given as gifts--have taken off with a bang for Christmas. Gift Certificates are available in any amount and can be sent to you or the recipient. When we mail them direct, I doll them up with mylar sea life stickers and great stamps. Season's Passes are $320.00, good for 10 adult whale watching cruises and they come with our full color brochures so recipients can see what you've gotten them into. For those of you who have been out with us, think about the joy of being at sea, the amazing animals you saw and the thrill that this brought you. What an incredible gift it makes! Call us at 831.643.0128 to order.

December 13th at 6:30, Steph and I go back to our roots and will present a slide show on the Whales & Dolphins of Monterey Bay at Monterey Bay Kayaks. We gave presentations on our kayak-based gray whale project "In the Path of Giants" all across the country, including at L.L. Bean's huge sea kayak symposium in Maine. Monterey Bay Kayaks was our home base. So this will be an extra fun time, telling the story of how we spring-boarded into Sanctuary Cruises. You can expect lots of great slides of the creatures we see on the Monterey Bay year-round. For more information and reservations, call Tara at MBK. Their number is 831.373.5357

11/7/03: The Mystery Whale & Dolphins Galore
The later we get into fall, the more unpredictable things become. It isn't that we won't see marine mammals, it's just that we aren't too sure which ones it'll be. Last weekend, we only spotted one whale on Saturday and it turned out to be a sperm whale. Finally! We hadn't seen one sperm whale all summer. We saw lots of dolphins and Dall's porpoises, making for a pretty cool day despite the one sketchy whale that fluked before we got within range for a good look.

Same thing Sunday, lots of dolphins and Dall's, then a sperm whale. Passengers did get better looks at it. Most likely it was the same whale, but who knows? They have very little in the way of unique individual markings such as humpbacks have.

Today, Steph located Risso's dolphins out near Soquel Hole and then just 3 1/2 miles outside of Moss Landing, there was a sperm whale. Same one? Could be. If so, it certainly showed more of itself this time. A group of Russians was pretty jazzed. I would have been, too, since I am particularly drawn to these large, asymmetrical animals. They don't have a centered blowhole; it emerges from the left side of the forehead. They have huge bodies, blocky heads and gorgeous-beyond-belief flukes. Perhaps the only attribute of theirs which I could do without is their ability to dive for over an hour, but these whales feed on giant squid found deep in the submarine canyon and they need that time to hunt.

Moby Dick was a sperm whale and our T-shirts feature not only the whales, dolphins and porpoises we see throughout the year, but Moby Dick exacting his revenge on Ahab. Too bad more whales can't do that to whalers.

An update I wrote recently about waiting for my ship to come in filled with dolls back when I was five years old got to quite a few of you, with many either writing or telling me in person about their reaction. Thank you very much for that. It left me thinking about ways we can get to kids to plant the seeds not only of conservation (something we work at all the time), but of kindness. What a different world it would be if kids didn't have to run the cruelty gauntlet in school but instead were supported and encouraged by each other, their teachers and parents. If you know of a school that successfully embodies these ideas, let us know. We'd like to reward the good guys and perhaps pick up some pointers for the others. Looking back on this year, I think Camp S.E.A. Lab at CSU Monterey Bay has done the best job we've seen. Those folks just rock!

With fall comes the new line of T-shirts, sweatshirts and caps for our web store as well as the boats. I'm working on some really neat stuff including new styles, colors and embroidery designs, so stay tuned. They will be ready in a few weeks, just in time for Christmas. Remember we offer gift certificates and they can not only be for any amount, they can be used for any purchase including whale watching cruises, clothing, jewelry and books. This year, we're offering Season's Passes in the form of 10 individual tickets worth $40.00 each at a total cost of $320.00 for those who would like to give one or more cruises as gifts. Give some, keep some, it's up to you! You can order everything but gift certificates on our web site, but gift certificates are quickly handled over the phone. I can mail them to you or to the recipients. When I mail them direct, I doll them up with my private stash of mylar dolphin and whale stickers, which I hate to do because I hoard them. However, Christmas IS just around the corner and I usually find some of these stickers in my stocking. Drop me an email (sanctuary@montereybay.com) or call (831.643.0128) for more information.

Cruises are running Wednesday through Sunday at 10:30. Tickets are $40 for adults, $30 for kids 2-12 and $10 for kids under 2. This time of year trips are usually small, there is a lot of room and we do have some wonderful experiences. See you out there.

10/27/03: She Dreams of Whales & Dolphins
When her dad called to make reservations for whale watching, he told us a lot about Bonnie. She is a young girl who dreams of dolphins and whales and this trip was to be her first chance to experience them in person, on the water. The fulfillment of a dream, of many dreams. We noted this in the reservation book, as we often do with special information: “Bonnie dreams of dolphins and whales.”

It wasn’t until I was doing the week’s books that I realized Bonnie and her family had been out with us on the one day this fall that we didn’t see whales or dolphins. Orcas have been found out there many times this fall and they can clear the bay of other marine mammals. But it is also easing toward the time when our “summer” whales head south. Before the gray whale migration kicks in, whales especially can get a little scarce.

Even so, the next day we saw orcas and the day after that we saw humpbacks, including the two friendlies that hovered near our boat and gave us a thrilling show. Bonnie wasn’t meant to see the creatures she dreams of, at least not this time. That’s a tough lesson for a little girl.

When I was five, we visited friends whose daughter Marcie had a bedroom filled with exquisite dolls. I was allowed to check them out and it appeared to my discerning eye that each one was better than the last. They had fine dresses and fancy accessories including beds with canopies and a doll house that was almost large enough to move into myself.

Marcie doesn’t play with those dolls anymore,” her mother sniffed. “I ought to just send them all to you! Maybe I will.” Marcie protested, but her mother seemed pretty sure of herself. I would play with them she said, I would take care of them. I stood up a little straighter, silently pleading my case. I would be a very responsible recipient of this treasure. In my mind, it was a done deal.

My parents scoffed when I informed them that I was about to inherit Marcie’s riches, but I was sure. So sure that the next day, I ran out our house, passed the barn, jumped the little creek and barged into the tiny rural post office that was our neighbor.

Guess what, Maggie?!” I cried out to the post mistress. “We went up to visit friends on skyline and they have a girl that’s outgrown her dolls and she has a LOT of them and so her mother is sending them all to me! They aren’t here yet are they?”

Maggie laughed and informed me no, they hadn’t yet arrived.

That’s okay, it will probably take a while to box ‘em all up,” I replied. “Maybe tomorrow. Or the next day.”

Or the next day,” Maggie nodded.

Each day, it was all I could do to pull on jeans and a shirt before bounding out the door and assaulting Maggie with another breathless query. “Did they come?!” No. I described the dolls I could remember and Maggie patiently listened. Sometimes I hopped up on the garbage can and regaled Maggie’s customers with my plight.

They still aren’t here, but they’re coming!” I said with great assurance.

As the days turned into weeks, I figured my parents were right. Marcie’s mother was just teasing her daughter. She might have been trying to hang onto her little girl, wishing she could still delight in her dolls and never grow up or away, as little girls do. She should have realized she was doing this at my expense, but I don’t think she did.

I thought of all of this as I stared at the reservation book. I called the Florida phone number and left a message, saying if they were still on the central coast, Bonnie and her family could go whale watching with us for free. Then I located a beautiful humpback whale card and wrote to Bonnie. I said sometimes we don’t get what we dream of, but when it comes to nature, it will happen when it’s time. I told her to keep dreaming about whales and dolphins and included a Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary temporary tattoo which has a whale’s tail on it and a “Protect the Ocean” sticker. I mailed it.

The phone rang late in the afternoon. It was Bonnie’s father. No, they weren’t still here, but he appreciated my offer. “You guys are a class act,” he said.

The gift I got from Marcie’s mother was not a box filled with fabulous dolls. It was the gift of empathy. Although I still feel the disappointment of a five year old girl, it’s quite small compared to the protectiveness I feel for kids who dream. What would I give for Bonnie to have the experience with whales the people in this picture are having? Oh, a box of exquisite dolls just for starters. See you out there.

Steph and I are taking a few days off to mosey around the north coast. We will be back in action on the weekend and while we're gone, Lisa will be holding down the fort and handling phones. If you'd like to join us on the weekend for whale watching, we're extending our "Buy 3 and the 4th Goes Free" offer for update recipients. You must mention it when you call and the least expensive ticket goes free. We leave at 10:30 and you can plan on a cruise that will last 4-5 hours.

10/24/03: A Wedding & Whales to Remember
It is turning out to be an interesting fall. In the past few weeks, we haven't seen blue whales, but humpback whales have returned in good numbers. We also saw the same four killer whales that we saw in September, then a week later we watched a pod take out a sea lion. This time, they allowed the carcass to float to the surface briefly and it was skinned as though by a knife. But that's just the beginning. Last Sunday, we found the mother lode of humpback whales way out on the calm, glittering ocean and two proved to be friendlies that came right up to the boat, spyhopped nearby and blew so close they covered us in whale snot. It was a real kick!

Some things just don’t fit neatly into prescribed spaces. The first time we conducted a wedding at sea, the marriage certificate was returned because the registrar couldn’t digest a geographical location such as “At sea on the Monterey Bay.” We tried several versions, including latitude and longitude, but each time, the form came back. Finally the registrar said, “I don’t care where the wedding took place, I want a CITY in the space for location!”

When I headed out with a small wedding party aboard Sanctuary last Saturday, I mused over the bride and groom’s request to be married in the company of whales. If a registrar couldn’t handle AT SEA for a location, imagine the response to witnesses being mammals of another sort, in this case, humpbacks.

Then there was the fact that the couple’s newborn son Erubey was in attendance. It was his first cruise ever and he took to it like a seasoned veteran of the larger cruise ships, many of whom also divide their time equally between eating and sleeping. Their dog Ezer was aboard and as big brother, he occupied his time by cruising the cabin and deck, but something was missing. Big brothers need special attention when a newborn arrives. We placed one of our dogs’ beds on the bow for Ezer, then tucked a spare jacket around him. Just right.

A weather disturbance to the north sent chunky swells our way and the ride was fairly bouncy. We had a fairly long run to the whales. Once there, the plan had been to conduct the ceremony, but conditions weren’t very cooperative. I suggested I just pronounce the couple husband and wife at sea, in the company of whales. Then we’d have the rest of the ceremony back in Moss Landing, up on the sundeck of Princess of Whales. They loved the idea.

J.J. was sitting inside the cabin, nursing the baby. Ignacio came in from watching whales with their friends and family members. The two of them held hands, their faces aglow. I said I was honored and pleased to join them in marriage and just then, as I pronounced them husband and wife, the baby lost his suction and there was a loud “THWOK!” to punctuate the union. With that, I returned to the wheelhouse.

Back in the harbor, we had the longer event. Rings hadn’t been mentioned, so I didn’t ask about them. After I had pronounced the couple husband and wife yet again, Ezer ambled by.

The rings!” someone cried out. “Ezer is the ring bearer!” They pointed to two sterling silver bands hooked to Ezer’s harness. I worked them loose and the rings were exchanged, but the union had been solid long before we had met. A happy and enchanting family floated off the boat and into its future together.

We're running Saturday and Sunday as well as Monday, October 27th, then taking Tuesday through Friday off for some richly deserved R & R. (Yeah, baby!) Saturday and Monday will be aboard Princess of Whales and Sunday most likely will be aboard Sanctuary, so if you have a favorite, here's your chance. Happy Halloween! See you out there.

10/06/03: National Geographic & Cats That Need a Home
When you watch television nature programs, do you ever wonder how they got the footage of wild animals? It takes dedication, massive patience and lots of hard work. It can be extremely tedious and it is expensive. Comparatively speaking, science and nature programs are financed in dribbles as opposed to the torrential money poured into a network series such as “Friends.” Even so, in the food chain of nature TV, National Geographic is far higher than most of the competition.

National Geographic has been working on the Central Coast with John Calambokidis of Cascadia Research. Their goal has been to deploy a Critter Cam on a blue whale. These cameras are in waterproof housings and they’re attached with harnesses to smaller marine mammals such as sea lions. In the case of whales with smooth, wet skin, a large suction cup can hold the camera on for quite a while. While you might envision a fleet of gleaming vessels with NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC emblazoned on their sides, the reality is more like 1-2 small boats such as rigid-hulled inflatables, perhaps with a larger research vessel providing support.

Grants are written and if one is lucky, a project is funded. Timing is everything. These projects have to be scheduled months and sometimes even years in advance, so everyone holds their collective breath as the dates approach. They need calm seas, boats that don’t decide to break down at the last minute, equipment that works, cooperative whales and split-second timing as they approach a whale within a few feet.

I have great empathy for them since Steph and I went through the same thing with our gray whale work. In 1996, we had a reporter and photographer from the San Francisco Chronicle down here to cover our project. If they got a good shot of Steph and his partner approaching a whale by kayak, and our biologist managed to fire a suction cup-tipped arrow at the whale, there would be one heck of a story. If not, we’d be out of luck. A whale watching boat closing in on us would have been disastrous.

Last week, we were approaching a blue whale. Conditions were sunny and calm and the whale was staying up for several breaths before sounding. This was the day Kim Kiest was out with us. You may remember Kim is the Moss Landing Marine Labs graduate who had never seen a blue whale. We’d just spent the last half hour with a pod of four killer whales. While the orcas were cool, it was time to show Kim and her students from York School a blue whale.

We’d seen the blow of a couple of scattered blue whales a mile or two away. One was closer, but as I approached it, I noticed a small inflatable boat nearby. Steph thought it was the Cascadia/Geo team. I called on the VHF radio and asked if they were working with this whale. John Calambokidis answered yes, so I offered to go somewhere else. He graciously suggested we check the whale out while they held back. Then, while the whale was down, he motored over to describe their work to our passengers.

It was serendipity that brought us all together that day, but talk about bonus points! I doubt any of our passengers had ever seen a Critter Cam, or been treated to an on-the-water visit by Calambokidis and the Geo team. Won’t it be something when--in a future National Geographic program--we explore the depths with a blue whale, perhaps the very one we were watching? See you out there.

Steph and I greet fall by going to bed early and reading, playing with the cats and hanging out with the dogs. This fall, we have more in the family thanks to our dock mate Vicki. She found a little kitten in the Moss Landing cemetary and had to find a home for it. We swore we would stop at five rescued cats but then we saw this kitten. She had pie pan eyes, was supremely confident for such a young kitten and she recognized Steph as her best friend at first sight. We named her Squid and she's a wonderful addition to our cast of characters.

The thing is, there are three more litter mates still roaming around in the cemetary. Vicki has to find homes for them or she won't rescue them (she has a lot of cats already, all rescued). So, if you'd like to have one or more of these great cats, let us know. One is an orange tabby, one is Siamese and the other is black. We'll do the catching and cleaning up.

Squid had her first visit with Dr. Tom Williams of Aguajito Veterinary Hospital today and she won him and his staff over immediately. She's healthy and doesn't have feline leukemia or any of the other cat maladies, which means her litter mates have a great prognosis as well. With winter coming, they need a home and when they're old enough, neutering. You do that for them and they'll give you the world. We ought to know.

9/26/03: BBC Got the Blues & Is Happy
[This update was quite the French affair. Chris Nelson handles the back end duties on our web site, including posting updates once I send them to our email list (you can sign up for them on the Talk to Us link). Chris and his wife Merideth are on vacation in Europe. Chris downloaded the necessary pages in Provence, did the work in the middle of France on a train; and uploaded the pages when he got to Paris.]

Since much of our commute to and from the harbor is spent listening to NPR, we hear interesting stories from all parts of the world. Sometime in the near future, we may be hearing about blue whales on the Monterey Bay on BBC World Report since a BBC radio crew has been here learning about them. They visited with Don Croll of UCSC at a pretty cool time. Among other things, he’s currently attempting to attach a Critter Cam on a blue whale so he can peer into the largely unseen world of the biggest animal on earth ever.

Don is a neat guy. He was our special guest on last winter’s Seymour Center fundraising cruise and we all were impressed by his knowledge and easygoing ways. On Wednesday, we had the students from Monterey Bay Academy out whale watching with us. Don called on the radio to explain what he and his team were doing nearby on the research vessel John H. Martin. It’s not every day one gets to be so close to something they might hear about later on worldwide radio.

Then yesterday the BBC crew joined us on our whale watching cruise. They asked Steph what the chances of seeing a blue whale were and he said 100%. They looked skeptical. “Well folks,” Steph informed our passengers on the way out, “I may have just hung myself with the BBC, so look really hard for whales, okay?” But there have been so many whales out there--most recently blues and humpbacks--that he knew they were in for a great day. Conditions have been flat, calm and wonderful. It hardly gets better than that.

Nature photography and sound recording is tricky. You can spend days, months, even years trying to capture your goal. But the BBC team was thrilled with the harvest of a single whale watching cruise. They got the sounds of water swooshing past Sanctuary’s hull, they recorded the exclamations of passengers as they spotted the whales and they captured the haunting blows of the whales as they swam past.

One of our best rewards is to have people get off the boats gushing over what they’ve seen, heard and learned. Everyone did yesterday, including some pretty seasoned world travelers from across the pond. Bingo.

Since I switched back to great slide film, the whales have obliged me with some spectacular photo ops. At one point recently, a whale headed for us and rather than slowing or altering its course as it neared, it actually sped up. It fluked so close to the boat that I couldn’t even squeeze all of its tail stock into the frame, but I got the shot.

Every angle of a whale tells a different story. From this perspective, the tail stock looks slender and yet a profile view shows it to be fantastically thick and imposing. Look at the gorgeous skin and the sharp fluke tips. No wonder I never tire of seeing whales; they’re always changing.

An interesting study just released on the National Academy of Sciences web site suggests whaling may have massively impacted a very large and complex ecosystem by affecting the food of killer whales. Check this out:

A cascading decline in seal, sea lion and sea otter populations in the North Pacific may have been triggered by industrial whaling after World War II that forced packs of killer whales to look for new sources of food, a group of scientists suggest.

"If our hypothesis is correct, either wholly or in significant part, commercial whaling in the North Pacific Ocean set off one of the largest and most complex ecological chain reactions ever described," the scientists wrote. The hypothesis goes against past theories that declines in Steller sea lions and other marine mammals off Alaska dating to the 1970s were caused by a lack of food due to overfishing by humans. That research led to limits on commercial pollock fishing.

Based on International Whaling Commission records, the authors figure that between 1949 and 1969, Japanese and Russian whalers took at least 62,858 whales, amounting to 1.8 million tons of killer whale food, within 200 miles of the Aleutian Islands and Northern Gulf of Alaska. [This would be potential killer whale food; they wouldn’t have eaten all of those whales.]

"We feel that that abrupt and huge loss of whale biomass was important to some portion of the killer whale population," said Alan Springer, a research associate professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks who was one of the authors. "Without that food available to them, they didn't entirely switch their diet. They just increased the proportions of other species of marine mammals," said Springer. "These smaller species just weren't able to sustain this increased level of predation.

Harbor seals, slow-swimming and loaded with blubber, were first on the shopping list, beginning to decline in the early 1970s. A few years later came fur seals. Sea lions, big but harder to catch, were next, declining in the late 1970s. Last came sea otters, which were easy to catch, but amounted to just a snack. They declined in the late 1980s.

Bruce Mate, a professor at Oregon State University's Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport who specializes in whales, said the article's conclusions made ecological sense.

"I like this approach. I think it's very logical," said Mate. "But it may not be the full explanation. I always tell people that animals are like parts of a watch to an ecosystem. Every one has a specific function. But they interact with each other a lot."

As few as 27 killer whales preying just on sea lions could account for their decline, the scientists estimated. Six killer whales feeding exclusively on sea otters would account for their decline.

As I read the article, I kept thinking about those numbers. Almost 63,000 whales were slaughtered in just twenty years and in a relatively small geographical area. And that’s according to the IWC records. I suspect the real numbers were even higher. What in the hell were they thinking? We know more now about the importance of balance in nature, but what do we do with our knowledge?

I saw a glitzy new Hummer yesterday, the obnoxious $80,000.00 vehicle trumpeted by Arnold the Conservationist. It had a California whale’s tail license plate. So does my 11 year old Acura. The bottom of the plate reads, “PROTECT OUR COAST AND OCEAN.” The Hummer gets about 5 miles to a gallon of gas. My car gets about 30. Does that make me 6 times more passionate about conservation than the Hummer driver?

A friend of mine is a brain surgeon. He had the tough task of informing family members of an accident victim that the man was brain-dead. They didn’t understand the ramifications. The daughter asked if that meant he was in a coma.

No,” my friend said, “If a coma was right here in the hall, brain-dead is down the hall, out the door, up into the sky and into another universe.”

I think you get my point regarding Hummers. See you out there.

Catch the BBC Radio piece on the blue whales of Monterey Bay! The BBC crew joined Steph aboard Sanctuary and they recently wrote: "We wanted to thank you very much for the wonderful day we spent on your boat looking at whales. It really was a fantastic day, extremely memorable and moving for both of us, and it was also great to meet Steph and the other crew members (especially the dogs!). Steph - thanks again for taking the time to talk to us, and help us with the radio production side of things, especially as you were also so busy keeping the other guests on board happy. We were very happy with the interview you did for us, and it will make an excellent addition to the show." The program is due to broadcast on November Wednesday 12th at 9pm GMT (1pm PST) on BBC Radio 4. You can listen on line by going to: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4 Clicking on programs A-Z and then F for Frontiers. It will be on line from November 12th for a week.