Chartering October 2012 – Orcas & Risso Dolphins

We chartered the Catalina 35 yesterday and I thought I would give you a little feedback about the trip. We encountered one Orca on the way out to the Monterey trench to do some whale watching. He only stayed for a brief showing. About 8 miles out we encountered a pod of several hundred Risso’s dolphins. We had never seen them before and thought they were very amazing. We knew nothing about them except for what we saw on the trip and then looked up later after the trip. We were able to heave-to and stay with them for 30-45 minutes. Although we do have pictures and video, they don’t show up great except for the dorsal fins and a few leaping in the distance. We also saw more jelly-fish than I had seen before. We had one 2 mile section with 20-30 seen for every boatlength traveled.

The weather was a little stronger out at the trench with winds 25 gusting to 35 and seas up to 10 feet. The boat did fine in those conditions including the reefing of the furling main, heaving-to, and sailing to windward.

Thanks for the nice day of sailing.
Best Regards,
Mark Bowers