When we were cruising the Channel Islands we saw many different animals in the ocean. My favorite was the baby seals and the dolphins. They both swam around us and splashed water at us.

The Mother seals barked at us a lot but the pubs chased us all around. The seals can swim very fast. They are much faster than our dinghy. On land they are very slow and just flip flop around you could hardly believe that they are so graceful in the water

We saw a lot of dolphins on our cruise through the Channel Islands.  They seem to be everywhere.  On our long crossings they were a pleasure to see and watch as they surfed the bow wake and criss-crossed our path.   The Bottlenose Dolphin was what we saw the most of.

It was always a scramble to get the book out and try and see if we could figure out what kind of dolphins they were before they left us.

Garibaldi are found in the kelp forest off the coast of Southern California. They are protected fish in the state of California. They can be found in the coastal waters above 100 feet deep. They are very territorial fish. The male will build a nest of cultivated red algae to attract a female to lay eggs. Once the eggs are laid the male will protect the nest until the eggs hatch.

 To find out more about the marine life in the Channel Islands click here, Channel Island Sanctuary, Marine Biology Learning Center .