Bottlenose Dolphins off of Palos Verdes

This week after reading "Dolphin birth a magical reward for volunteer spotters off Palos Verdes", and watching the dolphins cavort off Redondo Beach shores while walking the Esplanade, I thought it was a great time to volunteer and help these wonderful creatures.

At 9 am this morning, I showed up at the Point Vicente Interpretive Center, borrowed a powerful pair of bincolulars and met 2 women who have volunteered in the ACS-LA Gray Whale Census and Behavior Project for 20 years. Although I did not spot whales, for a good 10 minutes I followed a large pod of bottlenose dolphins headed south along the coastline, near the kelp beds. And I did see one sea lion jump out of the water and plop back in.

The rain came at 10:30 and cut the visabilty down..and it was cold! So I headed home, with feeling that somehow, I had contributed even in a small way to my neighborhood under the sea.

Here's a blurb from the LA Times Outpost: The volunteers see things both mundane and miraculous as they monitor goings-on in the San Pedro Channel daily from sunup to sunset. If you'd like to volunteer, call Alisa Schulman-Janiger at (310) 519-8963 or e-mail janiger@bcf.usc.edu. Or simply show up and ask how you can become involved.

On the Esplanade

With the outstanding weather, the Esplanade has been the perfect place to walk, watch dolphins and strike up conversations. I met several dogs (Boomer and Einsteen) and their owners (names unknown) and a person from one of my networking group who's name was familiar but who I hadn't met in person. The Esplanade has been pretty busy lately - a visiting family member asked me what all these people did for a living. Who knows...maybe there are more admireres of the Esplanade with the rise of unemployment and the slidingly south economy. The Esplanade is a great place to unwind and that is what one person I met was doing. Looking out into the ocean, taking it all. Trying to figure out the puzzle in his head. He asked if I thought things would get better soon. Yes.

Dolphins Surfing off Redondo Beach

While walking along the Esplanade this afternoon, I spotted the outline of a dolphin surfing just as the wave crested and it's form was back lit by the greenish blue clear water. It was a stellar shot. No camera but one for the memory banks of the mind. I stopped to enjoy the sights, sun and light breeze and was amazed to count up to 13 pods having one heck of a time swimming both north and south.

For those of you who might be interested in learning more about the local dolphin population or donate to this cause, here's the link:http://www.oceanconservation.org/

While looking for great sites on dolphins to pass on, I sadly came upon this recent article in the LA Times about a deep diving dolphin that died most likely as a result of a Navy sonar research program. Call me a softy but this makes me sick to my stomach. How would you like to be merrily swimming along and have a sonar blast the life out of you? If you want to read it, here it is: http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-dolphin22feb22,1,6511399.story?ctrack=1&cset=true

This reminded me that swimming with dolphins is in my must-do living-life-to-the-fullest list. There is a family vacation coming up in Mexico and so to end on a happier note: http://travel.latimes.com/destinations/mexico/puerto-vallarta/clm/active-pursuits/swimming-with-dolphins


Call it a 2-fer day. After blogging about those beautiful elegantly plumed peacocks, there was one crossing the road today.