Art: Animal Play Behavior
Santa Cruz Island
Related animal: Dolphin

The weekend spent in Santa Cruz Island was wonderful! We were very lucky to have seen a diverse and wide variety of beautiful animals. Just as we left Ventura, we saw a pod of dolphins consisting of about 100-300! It was the first time that I had ever seen a wild dolphin and words cannot explain the feeling of witnessing something so beautiful in mother nature. We also saw about ten humpback whales through out the trip, which was just spectacular. When we were on our way to the island we saw hundreds of dolphins swimming through the sea. Then unexpectedly, a sea lion came out of nowhere and began to copy the dolphins! It was hysterical. Obviously the poor sea lion wasn’t as graceful nor as fast as the rest of his/her dolphin friends, but it was just precious to see this sea lion try to become one with the dolphins and he/she loved the attention that we gave him! Of course the most memorable moment of the trip was when the humpback whale was so close to us that when he opened his mouth, we could smell his or her breath! It was gross, but also quite amazing at the same time. I found myself collaborating with the plants and nature when we went on our hikes just as much as I collaborated with the non-humans of the island. I took some beautiful photo’s of the dolphins, humpback whales, interesting spiders and luckily a small, slightly blurry photo of a bald eagle right before we left the island on Monday. I did see quite a lot of foxes, but never was around my camera to capture the moment. But sometimes I think it is more important to just enjoy the moment while it lasts instead of stressing to find a camera to capture the image. Overall, it was an amazing trip. Spotting thousands of dolphins, nearly ten humpback whales, interesting spiders, little cute foxes (who steal socks) and last but not least a bald eagle! It was a great experience and I cannot wait to go back and visit all of my nonhuman friends ☺

Submitted by tanasa [Write Review]