Outdoors, action and adventure

Early humpback whale sighting logged off Santa Barbara

**Update: The Condor Express crew logged sightings of six more humpback whales on Wednesday

A humpback whale put on a show Tuesday for  passengers aboard the Condor Express out of Santa Barbara, marking that vessel's first humpback whale sighting of the season.

"We've heard rumors of these beasts coming back into the Santa Barbara Channel for a few days, and BINGO! Today we had one," read an email alert sent to frequent customers.

It's an early sighting. Humpback whales, which migrate into Southern California waters from the south, typically don't start showing until late April or early May.

The sighting comes less than a week after rare sightings of a large sperm whale pod off Long Beach and San Diego.

-- Pete Thomas

Photo: Humpback whale shows its fluke to passengers aboard the Condor Express during a friendly encounter on Tuesday. Credit: Bob Perry

Scientists unearth fishing equipment dating back 12,000 years

There's antique fishing equipment, and then there's stuff so old that it becomes historical treasure, providing a glimpse into the lifestyles of ancient civilizations.

That's the case with fishing tools unearthed recently by archaeologists at two of the Channel Islands off Southern California.

Looking for signs of ancient human settlement, they found meticulously-crafted spearheads and other artifacts (see photo at right) that date back 12,000 years.

The discoveries, at three sites on Santa Rosa and San Miguel islands west of Santa Barbara, support the theory that when the first traces of humans appeared in the archaeological record in North America, a seafaring coastal culture existed that was distinct from the well-chronicled inland Clovis culture, which consisted of big-game hunters who subsisted on mastodons and other large mammals.

A 15-member team led by Jon Erlandson of the University of Oregon's Museum of Natural and Cultural History found chipped stone tools, used for fishing and hunting, along with an abundance of discarded seashells and bones.

A story about the finds appears in the March 4 issue of Science; it was summarized by New Scientist and Science Daily. New Scientist's headline: "Found: fine American fishing tackle, 12 millennia old."

Blue whales a big-time summer attraction off Santa Barbara

It's a little-known secret that this is prime time for whale watching off Southern California, particularly in the Santa Barbara Channel, where only one boat makes daily offshore excursions in search of blue and humpback whales.

That's the Condor Express out of Sea Landing in Santa Barbara, and its passengers have been enjoying almost predictable encounters with both species of leviathans, plus dolphins, seals and sea lions.

The high-speed catamaran -- which generally runs from 10 a.m. -2:30 p.m. -- on Saturday will run a full-day trip hosted by the Los Angeles Chapter of the American Cetacean Society.

 It's an annual odyssey members and non-members look forward to each summer, because this is when the whales -- primarily blue whales -- are in the channel feeding on shrimp-like krill. Cost is $93 for members and $103 for non-members, and departure time is 8 a.m. For details call (310) 847-0516.

For those wondering about recent sightings, Condor Express passengers on Sunday saw four blue whales, which are the largest creatures on earth, as well as two humpback whales, 150 common dolphins and an elephant seal.

On Saturday the tally was three blue whales, three Dall's porpoise, 100 common dolphins and a giant mola mola, or sunfish.

Marine mammal enthusiasts might also be interested to know that Island Packers vessels ferrying hikers and campers to the Channel Islands will pause and inspect whales along the way.

Farther south, Harbor Cruises in Long Beach runs daily trips, and Dana Wharf Whale Watching and Capt. Dave's Dolphin Safari also venture offshore in search of migrating or feeding whales.

-- Pete Thomas

Photos of feeding blue whale (top) and friendly humpback whale by Pete Thomas
 

Killer whales targeting sea lions off Southern California

Orcas Gone Wild: Now playing in vivid color off Southern California.

On Tuesday afternoon as many as a dozen mammal-eating "transient" killer whales were encountered by passengers and crews of whale-watching boats running from Dana Point in Orange County.

A sea lion kill had been made. Orcas were feeding on the carcass. But that's not all. The killer whales were in a mood: They spy-hopped, lob-tailed and breached. One turned upside down directly beneath a boat. One performed a back flip before awed spectators, as though it had been trained at Sea World.

But there's more. On Sunday, 130 miles to the north off Oxnard, fishermen might have seen one of the same killer whales. A sea lion kill had been made here, too, and this orca was seen using its tail fluke to hurl the sea lion carcass through the air as though it were a baseball being pitched over the plate.

"It was truly amazing to watch," wrote Tom Mattusch, in an email that was forwarded to this website by a friend. "He would swim under the floating seal and bat it with his tail. He did this about 10 times before swimming away leaving the seal behind."

Tom's friend Marc Gorelnik shot an amazing sequence of photos, one of which accompanies this story. I'd have suspected this as being contrived but Alisa Schulman-Janiger, a killer whale researcher, has identified the killer whale as a young male who is presumably orphaned and has been seen with other small groups of transient orcas.

The researcher also ID'd some of the orcas seen off Dana Point. One was an adult female cataloged as CA 138, a.k.a "Scratchy," who was first documented off Monterey in 1995. With her was two offspring, including a calf born this year. Also ID'd, based on dorsal fin and saddle shapes and markings, were five other killer whales spanning three generations.

The young whales, most likely, were learning to regard sea lions as prey and how to dispatch them. Transient killer whales, however, are not frequent visitors to Southern California, so this is an exciting time  for scientists and whale-watchers.

If you'd like to venture out in search of the sleek predators here are some good options:

Dana Wharf Fishing and Whale Watching and Captain Dave's Dolphin Safari in Orange County. Harbor Cruises in Long Beach and Condor Cruises in Santa Barbara.

-- Pete Thomas

Photo:  "Copyright 2010 Marc Mager Gorelnik, all rights reserved"

Free white seabass seminar tonight at Hooters of Anaheim

The weather in Southern California is warming up, and the days are getting longer, which means spring is at hand and it's only a matter of time before the white seabass bite erupts at Catalina and other Channel Islands.

With this in mind white seabass is the theme of tonight's 976-TUNA Rod and Reel Club meeting at Hooters of Anaheim. There will be free raffles and somebody will win a trip for two to La Paz with Tailhunter International. The last club meeting at Hooters was packed and fishermen are advised to arrive early.

Hooters is located at 2438 East Katella Ave. A similar seminar is scheduled for next Thursday at National Sports Grill in Torrance.

-- Pete Thomas

Photo of angler with white seabass courtesy of Oceanside Anglers

Agents seize more than a ton of pot on Santa Rosa Island

Are the beautiful Channel Islands, which are so popular among hikers, campers and fishermen, being used by Mexican drug cartels to help deliver their product to the United States?

Or was Saturday's major pot discovery and arrest of four Mexican citizens merely the result of a delivery gone wrong?

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency today issued a news release detailing a coordinated bust involving the arrest and seizure of more than a ton of marijuana that had been concealed in bales stashed in vegetation on Santa Rosa Island, about 35 miles west of Santa Barbara.

Suspicions were aroused late last Thursday night, when the crew of a U.S. Navy helicopter sighted a panga traveling northbound 46 miles west of San Diego's Point Loma. These stealthy Mexican skiffs are commonly used to smuggle drugs and aliens.

A multi-agency search ensued and on Saturday afternoon agents from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security, discovered fuel canisters and wreckage from the panga on Santa Rosa Island.

The helicopter the agents were aboard landed and they discovered, in a canyon near the wreckage site, 46 bundles of marijuana weighing 2,448 pounds. They also found four adult Mexican males hiding in the brush.

What remains unclear is whether the island was a dropping point or whether boat trouble forced the smugglers ashore on Santa Rosa Island, which is part of Channel Islands National Park and within Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary.

Whatever the case, the more remote islands will likely fall under increased scrutiny because of this incident.

-- Pete Thomas

Photo of pot bales concealed in vegetation on Santa Rosa Island courtesy of U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency