3 Gray Whales and Excellent Cetacean Diversity Again the calm seas and excellent weather made whale finding and whale watching a dream come true. Today the Condor Express located and watched three individual gray whales: one mid-Channel, one on the west end of Santa Cruz Island, and the third a bit east of the famous Painted Cave. In addition to … Read More
Calm seas result in gray whale mating.
Calm seas result in gray whales mating. The trip across the Santa Barbara Channel was smooth as silk today and we were lucky today to see gray whale mating. A few seabirds such as phalaropes and shearwaters were observed mostly resting on the surface. Later a northern fulmar sitting on the glassy surface would approach the Condor Express as we … Read More
An all time epic “killer” day in the Santa Barbara Channel
Killer day in the Santa Barbara Channel An all time epic or “killer” day in the Santa Barbara Channel As the Condor Express headed south out of Santa Barbara Harbor we were met with a mill pond flat glass sea surface, no wind and long sleeve tee shirt weather. The water was clear and blue, and the above water vistas … Read More
Killer whales lead the list of 6 different marine mammal species today.
Killer whales lead the list of 6 different marine mammal species today. According to https://orcasoftheworld.wordpress.com Bigg’s killer whales were formerly known as ‘transients’. In 2012, a push was made to rename this type of killer whale in memory of Dr. Michael Bigg (1939–1990). Bigg’s killer whales range all along the west coast of North America, from California to Alaska. They … Read More
Two “Wrong Way Corrigan” Gray Whales and More.
Two “Wrong Way Corrigan” Gray Whales and More You may have heard the story of Douglas “Wrong Way” Corrigan who, back in the day, was supposed to fly from New York to Long Beach, California. He landed in Ireland claiming heavy clouds and navigational errors. Well today we had two “Wrong Way Corrigan” gray whales. This is the time of … Read More
The same 2 humpback whales go wild again. Wow!
Humpback whales go wild again Two humpback whales “mugged” the Condor Express repeatedly today. Captain Eric ran to the eastern Santa Barbara Channel again due to reports of rough seas out at the islands. As he did yesterday, he found the white tailed mother and her juvenile busy lunge feeding on the surface. At one point the juvenile rolled over … Read More
Five gray whales, Rissos dolphins, Dall’s Porpoise and lots more
Across to beautiful Santa Cruz Island we went today, and it was clear enough to see all 4 of the Channel Islands. At the mid-Channel point we encountered 5 wonderful little Dall’s Porpoise and circled around with them a few times. This is our first Dall’s sighting of the Winter. About 3 miles north of the island we ran alongside … Read More
Five Humpback Whales and plenty of excitement.
Five Humpback Whales and plenty of excitement. Report for Friday, December 6, 2013. The Condor Express moved with the feeding grounds today as things shifted more to the southwest than previously noted. Here a total of five humpback whales were watched. The first two were feeding at depth and had long down times. The next three included our mother and … Read More
Two Happy Humpback Whales Enjoyed by All
Captain Eric and the crew report another calm, flat sunny day on the feeding grounds today and there were two humpbacks whales watched closely. One was the prop scar whale that did all the jumping earlier this week, and its pal is the whale with the all white tail. Today seemed to be more of a “digesting and lounging” day, … Read More
Perfect sea conditions and lots of surface whale feeding
The anchovy populations took advantage of the glassy, sunny zero wind day to come up and bask in the sun. Perhaps they wanted to snack on a few copepods or other planktonic life on such a nice day. Little did they know that congregating on the surface would ultimately prove to be a very bad idea. Captain Dave and the … Read More