Date: 11/2/26 7:21 am From: Peter Pyle via Mendobirds <ppyle...> Subject: [Mendobirds] Noyo Pelagics -Nov 1st half-day trip
An eager group of 28-30 participants joined us on yesterday's trip, many
anticipating close encounters with whales. They were not disappointed
as, similar to our last trip, dozens of Humpbacks were still
lunge-feeding, tail-slapping, and breaching some 3-6 miles from shore.
Anchovy are still thick out there in the cool waters (around 58 F for
the trip), which led to an abundance of whale and bird action in this
area. As the whales blew and frolicked, 100s of Black-vented Shearwaters
swirled around, along with alcids, gulls of 7 species, a few fulmars and
Pomarine Jaegers, pelicans, cormorants and other nearshore like. So
common were the Black-vents that we had trouble finding other
sheawaters, managing to scrape up a few Pink-foots and but one Sooty.
The cold front of the previous evening had whipped through earlier than
forecast, drenching a few trick-or-treat events, and following NW breeze
unfortunately also followed, six hours ahead of schedule, so instead of
"greasy" bluebird seas as predicted, we were confronted with rather
stiff headwinds on our way up to Noyo Canyon. Skipper Richard skillfully
negotiated the 'headseas' but the slower progress meant that we only
made it up to the tail of the dogleg, never quite getting out into the
pelagic zone. Still, to have Black-vented Shearwaters around us all day
is something to relish in Mendo waters. On the way back in many were
sitting and got up in swirling swarms as we approached, while others
joined gulls in tight feeding flocks feeding on brown masses just below
the water surface. Perhaps krill or shrimp of some sort? We estimated
near 1000 BVSHs total for the trip.
Another highlight came at our farthest point out, when a very large male
Orca sauntered by, its dorsal fin a full 4-5 feet about the water
surface. We only see these about once per year on our trips, and this
was the first for 2026, and a good post-Halloween trip for all aboard.
Shortly after a Humpback breached right in front of the boat, perhaps an
attempt to scare the Orca off, as we conjectured. Indeed, the Orca had
slowly moved off to the southwest, and submerged.
Our last scheduled trip will be a full-dayer on November 30th, when we
hope for calmer weather, enabling us to make it into the pelagic zone
for Mottled Petrels, and who knows what else, as we have very little
data from our waters for this time of year (we have back-up dates for
Dec 1st and 2nd in case weather prevents a trip on the 30th). I'll share
a little secret we California coasters have, that those days between
fronts in the winter can be some of the most spectacular days of the
year, without the crowded roads and trails of fall. If we get one of
those days we will undoubtedly have good success.
We are also hoping to schedule a few more half-day trips over the
winter, when we can see such days forecast ahead. We'll pick days with
less risk than this trip of a sudden shift. So stay tuned to these
listserves, and check us out at https://noyopelagics.com/ .
