2022 06-27 SB Channel
Captain Devin and the crew of the Condor Express ran a private charter whale watch today. We closely watched 6000 long-beaked common dolphins and 2 Minke whales. The first 2/3 of the trip was under a thick marine layer that, in spots, hit the deck and reduce visibility substantially. Later, things got sunny and nice.
Devin took the boat up the coast as far as UCSB, running through a corridor that often produces lots of hot spots and those, in turn, are sometimes visited by humpback whales. No humpbacks today, but there were A LOT of hot spots with feeding dolphins, sea lions and, of course sea birds.
From UCSB, our course took us to the NOAA East Channel Buoy region. We watched a 1500 individual mega pod for a while until it joined a second mega pod of about 2000, and created a massive super mega pod. At this point we began to enter the southern, and windy, region of the Channel. The short interval chop resulted in us heading back towards the harbor and putting the seas astern.
On the way back we found another 2000 strong dolphin herd and a bunch of scattered pods similar to the morning sightings.
About 2 miles off Leadbetter Beach, a pair of Minke whales located the Condor. The followed a regular breathing cycle and we all had wonderful looks.
You never know what Mother Nature has in store. Bob Perry
Condor Express, and CondorExpressPhotos.com
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