Image: Part of a large ocean hot spot.
2023 6-22 SB Channel
It was a bit bumpy from strong winds overnight. During the trip the winds started out light and grew stronger. Skies began completely covering the sky and it ended up partly cloudy. Totals included: 10+ humpback whales, 5000 long-beaked common dolphins and 100 California sea lions.
The hot spot of the week, previously described in earlier reports, moved to a location 8 miles off Hope Ranch. It was another moveable feast with sea lions, sea birds, dolphins and whales all feeding on massive acres full of northern anchovy schools. Our first encounter was with a humpback mother, her calf and another adult. The calves became super friendly and stayed around the boat even though we were moving slowly to stay with the hot spot.
A mile further into the spot a pair of friendly adults joined the efforts to stay close to the Condor Express with slow swims along both sides of the boat and shallow dives in clear water to pass under our hulls. One of the two single whales was obsessed with tail-throwing. It followed a regular throw cycle for a couple of hours: 5 throws, take a short break, 5 more throws, etc.
Two more single whales were soon spotted, and another mile into the swimming mass of marine life we had 3 more looks at close whales. There were lots of additional spouts in the near distance as well. We heard a lot of trumpet vocalization going on.
You never know what mother nature has in store.
Bob Perry
Condor Express, and
CondorExpressPhotos.com
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