looking back 2009 - post # 3 - rv sea explorer

Earlier in the year, James, Julia and I headed out to sea on the R/V Sea Explorer which is a marine educational and research vessel. We took a marine mammal cruise to see what we could see at sea. The difference with this cruise versus other local cruises is the research aspect, it was not crowded at all, and the kids are able to perform simple experiments at the end of the cruise such as drudging up mud from the sea floor and then sifting and carefully separating and sorting the bottom dwellers into water filled petri dishes. Julia loved this and it was just perfect for a 5 year old.

The day was great and we could not have asked for better weather. We only saw 1 grey whale migrating to warm Mexico waters from the cold north. A little boring as it was feeding and we only we able to catch small glimpses. The highlight was a pod of 200 or so dolphin. Just wonderful.

check out this small video of the pod.