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Ocean Wild Things

The whales of Moby Dick part 1

February 2, 2012 by Carolyn Kraft 1 Comment

I’m finally reading Moby Dick for the first time in my life. It was never assigned reading during my entire educational experience and I never got around to reading it post-college. And then the book club I joined last fall decided they wanted to read Moby Dick and as the whale enthusiast in the group… [read more]

Filed Under: Whales Tagged With: books, cetacean, ocean books, whale, wildlife books

More killer whale photos

January 30, 2012 by Carolyn Kraft 2 Comments

Finally, here are the rest of my killer whale photos! One of the questions everyone asked me after the trip was: “How close did the killer whales get to the boat?” The photo on the left captured the answer: very close. When these two whales surfaced directly in front of the boat there was a… [read more]

Filed Under: Dolphins, Whales Tagged With: cetacean, dolphin, killer whale, orca, whale, whale watching

Killer whale photos of mom with calf

January 24, 2012 by Carolyn Kraft 1 Comment

I just wanted to share some of the killer whale photos I took last Thursday. This post features some mom and calf shots. The first one on the left is definitely the best one, it’s clearly a mom and calf. Unfortunately, my 300mm lens can only get so close, so the calf in the photo… [read more]

Filed Under: Dolphins, Whales Tagged With: cetacean, dolphin, dorsal fin, killer whale, orca, whale, whale watching

I saw killer whales for the first time!

January 22, 2012 by Carolyn Kraft 3 Comments

I’m thrilled to say that I had the chance to see killer whales this past Thursday. This was a first for me, I’ve never seen killer whales in the wild before and the entire experience blew me away. Before launching into what happened, I should explain that I’ve never understood people’s fascination with killer whales.… [read more]

Filed Under: Dolphins, Whales Tagged With: cetacean, dolphin, killer whale, orca, whale, whale watching

Gray whale smackdown

January 17, 2012 by Carolyn Kraft 1 Comment

Have you ever gotten so frustrated or annoyed that you just wanted to smack someone? You are not alone. And it turns out we as humans are not alone. I recently had to go through boxes of old newspaper clippings (long story) and came across this headline in the pile: “2nd surfer nailed by whale… [read more]

Filed Under: Whales Tagged With: cetacean, gray whale, whale, whale watching

Gray whale watching bonanza

January 8, 2012 by Carolyn Kraft Leave a Comment

Gray whale watching started December 26th and it’s shaping up to be one of the best whale watching seasons ever! There has been a ton of press coverage, so this post is definitely on the late side. But it’s still worth mentioning in case anyone missed the news or needs a reminder. Volunteers for the… [read more]

Filed Under: Whales Tagged With: cetacean, gray whale, killer whale, whale, whale watching

Frustrating whale watching trip

October 14, 2011 by Carolyn Kraft 3 Comments

My most recent whale watching trip on Saturday, October 8th was frustrating! The weather was amazing, but as the Voyager headed out from Redondo Beach, the first dolphin we saw had its tail tangled in fishing line. Right away we could tell something was up because the common dolphin was swimming alone and very erratically.… [read more]

Filed Under: Dolphins, Whales Tagged With: blue whale, cetacean, dolphin, endangered, marine debris, MMPA, whale, whale watching

Looking down a blue whale’s nose

September 24, 2011 by Carolyn Kraft Leave a Comment

Everything about a blue whale is awesome, evening looking down its nose! Why? Because it’s the largest nose in the world! On a recent whale watching trip the captain compared the size of one blue whale nostril to the size of a human baby and a blue whale lung to the size of a bus.… [read more]

Filed Under: Whales Tagged With: blue whale, cetacean, whale, whale watching

Join me for some blue whale watching and rhyming!

September 15, 2011 by Carolyn Kraft 2 Comments

The blues are here don’t you know, just get on out there, it’s time to go! See the largest animal to ever live on earth, witness it’s massive hulking, bulking girth. Who knew they would ever visit Santa Monica Bay, I wish there was always enough krill around for them to stay. So rare and… [read more]

Filed Under: Whales Tagged With: baleen, blue whale, krill, whale, whale watching

Diatoms on a blue whale

September 7, 2011 by Carolyn Kraft Leave a Comment

In one of my recent whale watching posts, there was a photo of a blue whale with some really cool yellow-brown patterns on its back. During the whale watching trip, the naturalist on board explained the pattern was from diatoms, a type of algae that is usually single-celled. But I wanted to find out more!… [read more]

Filed Under: Algae, Whales Tagged With: algae, blue whale, cetacean, diatoms, whale

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