“Delta Dawn, what’s that flower you have on?…lyrics from an old song from the 1970s sung by Helen Reddy.
The Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta is home to water sports such as boating, fishing, windsurfing and kite boarding. The infamous delta breeze blows through here all summer due to a climactic change in air temperature. As the hot Sacramento valley heats up, this action pulls in the marine layer on the northern California coast in an attempt to cool down the valley. This creates very windy conditions in the delta, making Sherman Island near Rio Vista the wind sport mecca.
In early May, 2007, a mama humpback whale and her calf entered the San Francisco Bay and eventually swam up the Sacramento River over 90 nautical miles and ended up near Rio Vista. Marine biologists made attempts to lure them back to the open ocean and even dressed the whales’ deep gashes from boat propellers. The whales, eventually dubbed “Delta” and Dawn” (from the song, and because they were hanging out at the delta for so many days), finally made their way back to sea after spending nearly a month swimming in the delta.
What is amazing about the photograph is “Dawn” the calf, appears to be cavorting and frolicking with the windsurfers. I’m told by several windsurfers that were there during this time and reported that it was amazing to see such large sea mammals so close.
Enjoy your leisure time, you never know what adventures nature will provide!
You had me at “Delta Dawn”: I don’t know much current music, but Helen Reddy’s song is permanently lodged on my brain. Interesting post!
LikeLiked by 1 person
thanks! I still know most of the words 🙂
LikeLike
Very interesting about the whales. I would love to see this.
LikeLike
Thank you. I wish I could have been there, too.
LikeLike
Hey! I’m not sure whether you’ll want to accept, but I nominated you for the “One Lovely Blog” Award: http://thegirlinlongshorts.com/2014/10/08/one-lovely-blog-award-and-two-announcements/
Feel free to pass, or to follow through on the rules (in the post).
LikeLike
Pingback: Up a Road Slowly: Lagging Behind in Blogging 101 | sappy as a tree: celebrating beauty in creation
I am an animal lover myself (large, small–any kind). See a recent post about being touched by a suffering animal: http://helpmeettohim.org/2014/09/05/it-moved-me-to-tears/
Our granddaughter had a fish tank in her bedroom with a Japanese fighting fish in it. (not sure of the spelling, but you probably know the feathery black fish so popular these days). There was only one other fish that could be in the tank with him or he would kill, kill, kill. Anyway, a friend gave our granddaughter what looked like an ordinary goldfish that gave live birth. He let her alone for a while, but the next day he looked like he would burst. She had given birth and he was eating as fast as he could swallow. After he was separated from the others, they counted more than 80 babies still living. Poor black fish died within a few days–probably because he ate too much.
Remember the song, “Baby Baluga?”
There also used to be a saying that contrasted ideologies.
Be a hero; save a whale.
Save a human baby; go to jail.
LikeLike
What a awesome picture! !.. seeing one of tbese magnificent creatures is a Kairos moment. Have not seen one myself but my sister who is into ocean governance and whale protection (Sri Lanka is a hot spot for whales)..says it changes your whole perspective.
Cheets on a great blog.
LikeLike