2022 10-27 SB Channel
Blue skies with flat, calm seas marked a big improvement in conditions as compared to yesterday. It was another day full of mega pods of dolphins around The Lanes with plenty of humpbacks, sea lions and birds. The actual closely watched counts are: 14 humpback whales, 4000 long-beaked common dolphins and 200 California sea lions.
Captain Dave and his crew made a beeline to the southbound commercial shipping lanes, in-and-around the NOAA Mid-Channel buoy. A 1-mile-long dolphin pod with at least 1500 individuals kicked off the sightings. Plenty of sea lions and predatory sea birds were actively feeding here, too. Soon a single whale, with a pure white tail fluke, popped up and we followed it as it moved east, then did a 180° turn to the west. Soon it was joined by a second humpback.
We moved towards a distant hotspot seen in the binoculars and found another dolphin mega pod with a pair of whales. Three additional whales joined this pair from the west.
Finally, a trio of whales was watched in the same general area as a mother humpback with her calf. The little calf already had Orca rakes on its tail flukes.
You never know what Mother Nature has in store.
Bob Perry
Condor Express, and
CondorExpressPhotos.com
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