Image: A suction cup tag on the back of a giant blue whale. (Part of ongoing research by https://cascadiaresearch.org/ ).
2024 06-23 SB Channel
Although it had been foggy in town, it cleared up as we left the dock. The entire trip was in bright sun with clear blue skies. Seas were absolutely glassy. The conditions, according to Captain Eddy and the crew, were as good as it gets. Sightings for the day included: 150 common dolphins, 13+ giant blue whales, and 2 humpback whales.
We closely watched one nice pod of common dolphins today, about 3 miles southwest of The Kelp Farm on our way out to the “land of the blue whales,” just north of The Painted Cave on beautiful Santa Cruz Island.
Both Santa Cruz Island and its neighbor Santa Rosa Island appeared to be teeming with giant blues. The small area that we studied today had 12+ beasts. This included a mother blue whale with her calf that we have been seeing frequently this week. Although the calf got friendly again today, it did not technically “mug” us. Captain Eddy and the crew skillfully moved from whale to whale. We had great looks on a wonderful day.
On the way home, we were hailed by the world famous blue whale scientist, John Calambokidis. He called our attention to the fact that we were coming close to one of his tagged blue whales. We slow down and had wonderful views of this individual with a suction cup tag. (See today’s photograph for another one of John’s blue whales with a suction cup tag in a photograph that I took exactly 7 years ago to the day, above).
We were running a little bit late, but on the way home we passed by two nice humpback whales. Sorry we did not have time to slow down and spend more time watching them.
You never know what Mother Nature has in store.
Bob Perry
Condor Express, and
Hi Shirley,
What a fun day you must've had!