We headed southwest to a spot just south of the shipping lanes. Here we had about 2,500 or so common dolphins feeding on anchovies. This created a ruckus and attracted all sorts of sea birds. In addition to the usual sooty shearwaters, brown pelicans, Heermann’s gulls, and western gulls, a large number of little noisy elegant terns have been in … Read More
Condor Express Unique “Whale Check” Program
It is not often that we post comment cards on the captains blog, but we thought we would share this one with our followers. We recently received the following review after an island whale watching trip: “I used a “Whale Check” today as I was “skunked” on a previous trip. This sold me on the Condor Express. No one has … Read More
Huge patch of activity including humpback whales
When humpback whales are very close, almost anyone can smell them. But it takes a seasoned veteran captain like Captain Dave to sniff-out cetaceans when they are 8 or 10 miles “out there.” After an initial contact with a humpback whale just outside Santa Barbara Harbor, Dave pushed offshore keeping the moderate chop on our bow quarter for a smoother … Read More
Superior dolphins and abundant humpback whales
A humpback whale fluking up. Today we ran two trips, one typical whale watch but shifted to the morning 8a-1230p, and a private 2 hour charter in the afternoon. As a heads-up, tomorrow is the same schedule as today, 8a -1230p. And Saturday, we run a 1pm – 530pm afternoon adventure. Although windy conditions were forecast for the Channel, is … Read More
Another epic day of Southern California Whale Watching
Eight humpback whales with lots more in two areas surveyed on an epic day for Southern California Whale Watching. Several distant breaches and some tail lobbing was observed. We approached one humpback whale from a distance as it continually slapped its mighty pectoral fin on the water for many minutes. Others were working areas of obviously high productivity as indicated … Read More
A Bald Eagle tops off a great trip.
You don’t stay the number one whale watch captain by missing anything. And today Captain Mat was on fire! There were great sea conditions in the Channel and it’s supposed to be even nicer this Saturday and Sunday. Capt Mat used the conditions and his keen sense of whaledar to put the Condor Express near 7 surface lunge feeding humpback … Read More
Fog closes in and Condor Express sings the Blues
Blue Whale The “inaugural” cruise of the mighty Condor Express was run today. And the ship looks great…filled with new navigational electronics (navionics). She ran as good as always and it was a thrill to be back on board ! Now, fog is the subject of many famous blues songs. But I am not talking about songs. Even though it … Read More
Humpback whales playing today…Homecoming tomorrow!!
Humpback Whale Playing The final whale watch cruise of the old Condor happened today, and Captain Dave reports the following sightings: Four humpback whales playing were seen, and two of them got feisty. They lobbed and threw their tails around much to the surprise and enjoyment of all on board. In addition, Dave says there were 150 – 200 common … Read More
Eleven Humpback Whales
El Capitan Dave reports bright sun and a moderate bump on the water in the Channel today, but the ol’ Condor encountered 11 humpback whales out on the feeding grounds. Several were extremely curious about the boat and came up to make introductions. One individual was the same one that had the prop scar seen yesterday. En route 50 common … Read More
The gray whale migration “times they are a changin”
My apologies to Bob Dylan for that title, but the seasons are changing and today is quite symbolic thereof. The very tail end of the gray whale migration is winding down, and thus we saw 4 whales (2 cow-calf pairs) along the coast today. But having had a fabulous humpback experience on the special island trip yesterday, Captain Dave left … Read More