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FRIDAY, AUGUST 9, 2019
SAN DIEGO COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER GROUP
THIS WEEK
Best places in La Jolla for sunset dining
Hearing set for drive-by shooter
GONE WHALE WATCHING
BY NEAL PUTNAM | LA JOLLA VILLAGE NEWS
SEE PAGE 13
La Jolla wildlife drone photographer Domenic Biagini recently the start of his own whale watching company, Gone Whale Watching. DOMENIC BIAGINI / VILLAGE NEWS
Leopard sharks return to La Jolla Shores Beach SEE PAGE 11
La Jolla International Fashion Film Festival winners announced SEE PAGE 11
La Jolla wildlife drone photographer starts whale watching company BY EMILY BLACKWOOD | LA JOLLA VILLAGE NEWS
La Jolla wildlife drone photographer Domenic Biagini recently announced to his 26,000-plus Instagram followers that he is starting his own whale watching company on Labor Day weekend. After spending the past two years capturing incredible photos and videos of humpbacks, fin and minke whales for San Diego Whale Watch, Biagini is setting sail on his own with Gone Whale Watching. Rather than the larger tours most local companies give, Biagini said he wanted to focus on the smaller crowd (five people max) so he could provide a unique and intimate experience with some of San Diego’s most majestic underwater creatures. “What I really want to focus on is the customer experience here, and
‘To get offshore and see things like that is a really special feeling. It’s really unique.’ – DOMENIC BIAGINI, GONE WHALE WATCHING also how to get the most beautiful images of these animals” said Biagini. “What's the most respectful way to approach them? How do we go about making sure that it’s not only that the passenger that gets the best experience? How do we do it in a way that is sustainable and eco-friendly to the marine life?” Biagini will take out his Gone Whale Watching tours daily for two to three hours and will be offering special workshops on drone photography and other long-range trips — like the ones he usually takes on his own. Everything from spontaneous trips to catch a rare orca sighting to staying out a little longer because a pod of dolphins
decided to put on a show is possible with Biagini. “Last week I went out to San Clemente Island and that's 65 miles from Mission Bay,” he said. “A typical tour here doesn't go much further than 10 to 12 miles. But when you extend out to such a different part of the ocean, you come across things that you don't see in the near coastal waters.” Like the rare and exotic Bryde’s whale that he witnessed lunging out of the water into a school of tuna fish. “To get offshore and see things like that is a really special feeling. SEE WHALE WATCHING PG. 15
A Nov. 19 preliminary hearing was set Friday, July 26, for a young man accused of killing a woman and wounding three others at a La Jolla house party on June 23. Odyssey Sellers Carrillo, 18, has been charged with murder in the death of Nina Silver, 20, who was with a group standing at a party outside at 12:30 a.m. off Cuvier Street near Pearl Street in La Jolla. Carrillo pleaded not guilty to murder and three counts of assault with a deadly weapon in the same shooting spree in which a gunman fired shots into the crowd. No bail has been set for him and he remains in the central jail. The prosecutor has not said whether Carrillo was the gunman or the driver, but no one else has been charged. Carrillo was arrested July 17 by San Diego Police. San Diego Superior Court Judge Michael Smyth ordered Carrillo to next appear in court on Aug. 7 for a status hearing of the case. Court documents say Carrillo was convicted as a juvenile of robbery at gunpoint and he was barred from possessing a firearm. He was 15 years old at the time in an incident on Oct. 19, 2016, involving the hold-up. Juvenile records are normally not public record, but Carrillo is charged in this case with being a person who was banned from possessing a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun when the incident in La Jolla occurred. He is also charged with evading officers with reckless driving on July 17 before his arrest.