2016 05-13 SB Channel The Santa Barbara Harbor pinniped sanctuary (formerly the bait barge) starts the day with just a couple of Pacific harbor seals. By the time we come back in the afternoon our recent harbor seal count has been in the 10 -13 range along with 2 – 4 California sea lions. The seals take the inside … Read More
El Niño and Whales
Regular readers of our sightings reports may be wondering why there has been a lack of posts so far in 2016. The new year has begun with a series of long-awaited El Niño related storms. Each of these storms has generated very large ocean swells and strong winds. Not exactly ideal wildlife watching conditions. So it is that the … Read More
The Humpback Whales Show
2015 12-29 SB Channel The humpback whale show. Yes, it is southbound gray whale season. And, yes, we did watch 7 humpback whales today and no grays. You never know… Right? But the other good news is that the weather and sea conditions improved a lot over yesterday. Today we had little mini-swells from the west, and almost no wind. … Read More
Two Humpbacks MUG Condor Express
2015 11-11 SB Channel You could see from Bony Ridge to the east all the way out to San Miguel Island to the west and every island in between. There was bright sun with a very light breeze, and that famous Santa Barbara cobalt clear water was abundant in the mid-Santa Barbara Channel zones. About 15 minutes out of Santa … Read More
Humpback breaches in the wind
2015 09-04 SB Channel Dave , his crew and all our whale watchers had another epic day in the Santa Barbara Channel as they watched at least 19 humpback whales, 900 long-beaked common dolphins and over 100 offshore bottlenose dolphins. It was a nice day with a moderate breeze and this may have gotten some of the humpbacks a bit … Read More
Close Look at a Hammerhead Shark
2015 08-30 SB Channel Captain Eric knew it was going to be a challenge today as reports were coming in from up and down the Santa Barbara Channel that the wind and seas were not being too friendly. Nonetheless, working with his able crew, Eric went into one of the areas that were hot on yesterday’s all-day Cetacean Society … Read More
Loads of humpbacks, commons, a Minke plus offshores too
2015 08-17 SB Channel Flat, calm and even glassy sea conditions returned to the Santa Barbara Channel making great whale watching possible. Skies remained cloudy with a thin marine layer until just after 100 pm. The following are total estimated numbers of individuals watched closely today: humpback whales = 14 (more in the area); Minke whale = 1; long-beaked … Read More
Abundant Humpbacks, Commons and Risso’s
2015 08-16 SB Channel The fog was so dense there was less than ¼-mile visibility until it burned off around noon. Of course noon was the time the wind came up…no coincidence. A moderate bump remained on the surface from the previous two days. The good news was that when the fog lifted Captain Eric found himself in an area … Read More
Winds, swells and 3 humpbacks + dolphins too.
2015 08-15 SB Channel Captain Eric had to work for it today. Moderately high seas, strong winds and currents made it hard to move around the Santa Barbara Channel, yet somehow this crafty captain seems to pull it off. After a struggle to move to that area west of the harbor where we saw whales yesterday, alas nobody was home … Read More
Loads of Humpbacks and Dolphins and a Friendly Elephant
2015 08-10 SB Channel Flat, gorgeous sea conditions with no wind at all until after 100pm, and a marine layer that went away with the wind to reveal hot sunny skies, provided the backdrop for our excursion today. First, the totals: 12 humpback whales with many more spouts all around, 2,000 long-beaked common dolphins, 500 short-beaked common dolphins, and … Read More