Dead whale photos

[Bill McIntyre]

I went to San Clemente Island today with Dave Ness and Mikelb. On the way back, we came across this dead whale about 5 miles off of Dana Point. A couple of days ago there were reports of a dead whale inside Catalina with great whites and makos munching on it. If this is the same whale, it may have gotten too putrid for sharks, because we didn't see any. I know we almost barfed when we passed down wind of it.

 

[BatRay]

Wow, that doesn't even look like a whale anymore! I love how smug those seagulls look. Nice pics, Bill. Was that a hunting trip?

 

[Bill McIntyre]

Yes, it was a hunting trip, but not much of a catching trip. We had some beautiful water with 60-70 foot vis, but not much to see in terms of good game fish. At one spot I found a huge school of Spanish mackerel on the outside edge of the kelp bed and hung around for a while, but saw just one yellowtail in the distance. One of my two buddies came by later and saw a school of 8-10 yellowtail, but couldn't get near them. He did shoot three nice calicos though.

All I can figure is that seagulls don't have a sense of smell.