Pete Thomas Outdoors

Trouble in paradise? Drug busts are on rise at Yosemite

If everyone seems happy in Yosemite National Park, it ought to be and probably is in most cases because of the spectacular beauty of a pristine wilderness.

But some visitors to the iconic California park are high on more than nature. They're on drugs.

According to an NBC Bay Area investigation, Yosemite boasts the highest number of drug arrests and citations per 100,000 visitors compared to other large national parks.

Malcolm Morgan, a camper from Larkspur, California, is quoted as saying: "We were comparing it to Disneyland. We see a lot more happy faces here in Yosemite than we did at Disneyland."

Yosemite receives about 3 million visitors per year. NBC reports that drug busts have increased 18% since 2007 and that last year park rangers arrested or cited 855 visitors for possession of drugs.

Most of those arrests occurred within the seven square miles of Yosemite Valley.

For the sake of comparison, there were 2,393 drug possession arrests in Yosemite in from 2010 through 2012. There were 500 in Yellowstone National Park; and only 365 in Grand Canyon National Park.

Yosemite Deputy Chief Ranger Julie Byerly said she thinks most of the drug users are "largely folks that are coming and going," and not serious nature lovers. She does not believe Yosemite has a drug problem.

Said United States Magistrate Judge Michael J. Seng, who tries federal drug cases in a courthouse in Yosemite Valley: "It’s been primarily marijuana, mushrooms, hallucinogenic mushrooms, and then the party drug--ecstasy."

Seng implied that the problem stems from a drug culture existing among certain groups that visit the park from nearby communities. Yosemite Valley is easily accessible and receives most of the park's visitor traffic.

It should be stressed that visitors are not likely to experience shady dealings or drug-related problems. It's also worth noting that this iconic park is much bigger than Yosemite Valley; it boasts nearly 1,200 square miles of scenic valleys, meadows, great trees, rivers and waterfalls.

But if you happen to be in Yosemite Valley and that crisp scent of pine is temporarily interrupted by something far more pungent, well, you'll have a pretty good idea what you're smelling.

--Image of Yosemite's fabled El Capitan is via the park's Facebook page

Dolphin 'funeral procession' witnessed off Dana Point (video)

 

The waters off Dana Point on Tuesday were the scene of what one boater described as a dolphin funeral procession.

The accompanying footage shows a bottlenose dolphin, presumably a mother, carrying her dead calf on her back, while other dolphins followed close by. (Cetaceans have been known to tote dead offspring in what appears to be mourning behavior, but the phenomenon is rarely witnessed.)

The macabre episode revealed that not every mammal sighting is a cause for celebration, and that dolphins, like people, experience the loss of young and deal with that loss in ways that are both sad and touching.

The footage was provided by Capt. Dave's Dolphin and Whale Watching Safari (above) and Dana Wharf Whale Watch (below).

"I believe this calf has been dead for many days, possibly weeks," Capt. David Anderson states in his video description. "You can see the flesh is decaying. In my nearly twenty years on the water whale watching I have never seen this behavior. Nor have I ever seen anything quite as moving as this mother who refuses to let go of her poor calf."

Said Tony Green, a passenger aboard the Dolphin and Whale Watching Safari vessel: "The last thing I expected to see today was a funeral procession and it was a pretty profound statement about the emotions that those animals feel and how much … alike we are."

 

Orcas surprise Baja anglers, emerge just inches behind boat

For Bryan MacGowan and friends, a recent Sea of Cortez fishing trip will remain memorable not because of what they caught, but what they saw: several large killer whales that emerged off the stern of their 31-foot boat, two of them just inches away, at times seeming to inspect the anglers and crew.

"As the stern dipped in the waves, they would peer into the cockpit," MacGowan said. "It was intimidating--they are big!"

The encounter, involving at least 12 killer whales, or orcas, occurred off Baja California's East Cape region as the anglers were cruising offshore to hunt for marlin. There were no lines in the water during the encounter.

Two were immediately behind the boat when MacGowan captured the top image, revealing a killer whale practically within touching range. "There was another orca in the prop wash on the other side, but my camera could only capture the one," he said.

MacGowan captured a second image (posted below), showing a killer whale "playing in the stern wash, after the close ones dropped out."

It was startling because everyone had been looking forward until the captain spotted the mammals and shouted for everyone to turn and look.

The top image first appeared Saturday on the Pisces Sportfishing blog and Facebook page, with a post that reads: 


Look very carefully at this photo, sent to us by Brian MacGowan from Newport Beach, California, who is out today on the Tracy Ann. He was fishing at the East Cape recently, when the captain yelled for him to look back... he did, glad the lures were not in the water, he could have had the fight of a life time on his hands.

The captain told MacGowan that he sees what he thinks is the same pod two or three times a year.

Boaters farther north, off Loreto, enjoyed a similar encounter last fall. Perhaps those were from the same pod or family group.

--Pete Thomas

Killer whale's sudden appearance behind boat startles anglers

Imagine cruising along in a fishing boat and turning to gaze off the stern and spotting not a sunning marlin, leaping tuna or ray--which anglers might not be too surprised to see--but a large killer whale riding in the boat's wake only a few feet away.

This was Bryan MacGowan's experience recently in the Sea of Cortez, in Baja California's East Cape region.

MacGowan on Saturday was fishing farther south off Cabo San Lucas and showed the photo to Pisces Sportfishing general manager Tracy Ehrenberg.

She posted the photo to the Pisces Facebook page in late afternoon, and by about 7:30 p.m. it had been viewed by 30,000 people and shared more than 300 times.

Ehrenberg's post reads:

Look very carefully at this photo, sent to us by Brian MacGowan from Newport Beach, California, who is out today on the Tracy Ann. He was fishing at the East Cape recently, when the captain yelled for him to look back... he did, glad the lures were not in the water, he could have had the fight of a life time on his hands.

--Editor's note: Pete Thomas Outdoors tried reaching MacGowan by telephone, to obtain more details, but at the time of this post he had not returned the call.

Little girl's heartwarming letter to Yosemite rangers goes viral

Rangers at Yosemite National Park received a letter recently from a little girl named Evie. Taped to the letter were two small sticks, each maybe a few inches long.

But it was Evie's touching words that produced smiles and warmed their hearts. So the rangers shared the letter Wednesday on the California wilderness park's Facebook page, and it has since been shared by more than 6,400 users, "liked" by nearly 12,000 people, and commented on by nearly 1,000 people.

This is because Evie's letter is cute, but mostly because its broader meaning underscores the goodness in children, who generally want to do the right thing, and who will follow through if given a chance.

Those two sticks, it turns out, were carried out of Yosemite by Evie at the end of a family outing. Removing items from national parks, or from any wilderness area, is frowned upon because all natural items within these wonderful open spaces are what keep them pristine.

Visitors to national parks are advised of this smart principle via posted signs and in literature, and somehow the message reached Evie, after she had left the park, and discovered the two sticks in her pocket.

Tiny sticks. Insignificant, perhaps, in terms of keeping Yosemite pristine. But to Evie, they had to be returned to their place of origin. Hence, the letter (pictured at right), which might just brighten your day, especially if you're a parent or are planning to have children::

Dear Park Rangers,

I am a Yosemite Junior Ranger. I went to Yosemite recently and accidentally brought home two sticks.
I know I'm not supposed to take things from the park, so I am sending them back. Please put them in nature.

Thank you, Evie

Blue whales make rare February showing off Orange County

Whale watchers off Dana Point enjoyed a rare February treat Sunday when at five two blue whales appeared off Orange County (one is pictured above; see video posted below).

Blue whales, which can measure to about 100 feet and weigh up to 150 tons,  are the largest creatures to have inhabited the planet.

Tho on Sunday were spotted by passengers aboard mid-day boats from Dana Wharf Whale Watching and Capt. Dave's Dolphin & Whale Watching, both of which operate from Dana Wharf. During a late-afternoon trip the latter landing tallied five blue whales and one fin whale.

Although it has become common in recent years to see blue whales off Southern California from about June through October, it's rare but not unheard of to see them this far north during the winter.

(Many of the 2,000 or so blue whales that utilize California waters during the summer are believed to spend the winter at an offshore region known as the Costa Rica Dome, off Central America.)

Interestingly, blue whales were spotted off Monterey in Central California in mid-February, and at least one was spotted off the Los Angeles area last week.

Blue whales feed on tiny shrimp-like krill, which has been unusually abundant this winter, luring not only blue whales but fin whales, the world's second-largest whale species, to Southern California coastal waters.

The timing of Sunday's sighting couldn't be better as it comes during a lag period in the gray whale migration. There are about 21,000 gray whales and most are still off Baja California, where sprawling lagoons serve as nursing and mating grounds.

Their northbound journey to Arctic home waters will gather momentum over the next few weeks.

--Image showing one of two blue whales that were spotted Sunday off Dana Point is courtesy of Dana Wharf Whale Watching

 

Hawaii officials log three vessel-whale collisions in 24 hours

With as many as 10,000 humpback whales in Hawaiian waters during the winter breeding season, collisions between whales and boats occur sporadically. But three collisions within 24 hours--two off Maui and one off Kona on the Big Island--is an alarming number.

Hawaii News Now reports that a calf was struck off the Maui port of Lahaina on Tuesday evening. NOAA was alerted after blood was spotted in the water.

On Wednesay morning a boat struck a larger humpback, leaving it with three gash wounds. It's not clear whether either if these incidents involved a commercial tour boat, or a private vessel.

The Kona incident was unique in that a whale surfaced and revealed its fluke, flipping a 20-foot single-outrigger kayak. The man in the kayak, who was not seriously injured, was rescued by the crew of a nearby tour boat.

Boaters throughout island waters are asked to exercise extreme caution during the whale season, and to call 888-256-9840 if they spot marine mammals in distress.

--Image posted above is generic. Video posted below shows interaction between a humpback whale and tour boat off Kona in mid-July

 

Mentawais' reefs jeopardized by bomb-throwing fishermen

Fishermen have often joked, after hours of not catching anything, that they wished they had some dynamite. But in the Mentawai Islands in Indonesia, fishing with explosives is no joke: This practice, carried out illegally by visiting fishermen aboard skiffs, is destroying precious reefs that are critical to the health of the marine ecosystem.

The reefs also are important for a tourism industry supported largely by surfers, who visit because of the perfect waves that break over the reefs, but also because of the pristine nature of the region. (See video footage posted below.)

(Note: A version of this post also appears on the GrindTv.com Outdoor blog.)

But for the past several weeks the serenity has been shattered.

"For over a month now, the Playgrounds area has had at least three boats bombing our reefs every day," the owner of a surf resort told Surfer magazine, referring to a popular surfing spot."When the weather is good, they can do more than five cycles of bombing and collecting the dead fish in a day. Each cycle is between five to eight bombs. Calculating a low average, we estimate more than 2,250 bombs have been exploded in our 15-mile radius area."

Complaints to local and national government agencies have fallen on deaf ears.

 

The accompanying video shows fishermen tossing bombs, which send water cascading skyward, and a silhouetted man stepping forth repeatedly to complain about the lack of any type of response by a government that seems too preoccupied by other matters to deal with this issue.

If this level of destruction continues, of course, it will be devastating for local fisheries, the marine environment, and surfing-related tourism.

"Every time the surf season ends these guys descend," Jess Ponting, director of the Center for Surf Research at San Diego State University, told Surfer. "It seems more concentrated this year, but perhaps they are just working closer to the surf resorts, or perhaps there are now more surf resorts, where people see it and are horrified by it."

Ponting added that the fishermen doing the most damage are not locals trying to find food for their families, but commercial fishermen from the Sumatran mainland more than 100 miles away, making the situation more frustrating because they're inadvertently harming the local population.

Ponting says that 86 percent of Indonesia's reefs are threatened, and that most will be dead by 2020 if the current rate of destruction continues.

Surfer quoted another surf camp owner as saying: "Although we have called every agency possible, nothing has been done and the boats are still operating as we speak. The goal is to help Indonesians feel strongly about protecting their waters from bomb boats, and nudge them into action. Time is against us. Please spread the word."

A petition has been established and those who care about the people of the Mentawais and the marine environment are encouraged to sign.

For more on this issue, visit Surfer magazine

--Photo: Skiff fishermen at the Mentawais toss explosives to kill the fish they like to catch, but the method also destroys precious reefs and the marine ecosystem. Credit: Carter/Surfer magazine

No gun control for these road crews, which use M60 combat tanks to reduce avalanche threat

A lot of people may not realize that M60 tanks are a very effective means of avalanche control.

Washington state road crews use them to fire live rounds at areas where there is heavy snow accumulation and high avalanche danger.

 

They usually do this between midnight and 6 a.m., out of sight of most people. But last week when conditions became unstable on U.S. 2 near the Stevens Pass summit, they closed the roadway in the afternoon and fired their rounds in broad daylight.

Looks like an effective method and, some might say, a very interesting way to make a living.

--The accompanying footage is via HeraldNet.com. Hat tip to Unofficial Networks

Large shark creates tense moments for divers at Tiger Beach

 

A large tiger shark created a tense situation for divers during a recent expedition to Tiger Beach in the Bahamas.

Check out the footage, uploaded Thursday by Italy's Giovanni Rossi Filangieri. It begins with a large and curious tiger shark backing up a photographer, and includes yelling from the dive leader, who was trying to control the situation by positioning the divers in a safer line.

Clearly, there were some tense moments.

The dive spot is famous for close encounters with tiger sharks, which are lured in with chum and sometimes hand-fed.

Last spring a diver pulled his foot from the mouth of a large tiger shark and was fortunate the shark didn't actually bite. (See 40-second mark of that clip.)

The sharks, of course, are just looking for food, and it's fortunate that they do not typically attack items they do not regard as prey (such as humans).

But even sharks make mistakes. Thankfully, they are few and far between.