When you’ve averaged 250 days a year on the ocean over the last six years, filming whales and dolphins like wildlife cameraman Adam Ernster has, it might be difficult choosing your most memorable marine mammal encounter.
However, in a recent text, Ernster quickly described a transient orca pod in detail, the CA51s, sighted from the Condor Express during the week of Christmas 2021. The Santa Barbara Channel was teeming with migrating gray whales and other cetaceans. Known as “the friendly pod,” the matriarch is known as “Star.” She has two sons, “Orion” and “Bumper.” Her 11-year-old daughter, “Comet,” and youngest calf, “Nebula,” were all present as they attempted to take down an adult sea lion.
“However, our presence must’ve piqued their interest,” recalled Ernster. “For the next two hours, these whales rolled around our boat, vocalized around us, and stared straight into our souls.”