2022 03-18 SB Channel
Captain Dave and his crew conducted a 9am and 12noon excursion with glassy seas, sunny skies and a small rolling swell from the northwest. Totals for the day included 9 gray whales and 200 long-beaked common dolphins.
About 50 dolphins were watched offshore from Hope Ranch, near the mariculture zone. We had good looks then moved further west. South of Platform Holly, an initial sighting of a gray whale pair soon turned into seven whales. All had very short down times and great tail fluking was seen by all.
Noon took us 3 or 4 miles straight out from the harbor where a little larger pod of dolphins, about 150 of them, were watched. After quality time with them, the Condor Express went into searching mode without a lot of luck. As fate would have it, we eventually found a pair of whales near the harbor breakwater. They were actively bottom feeding, as evidenced by plumes of mud rising to the surface. On at least one occasion, a whale on the surface had mud being ejected through its baleen. Wow!
You never know what Mother Nature has in store. Bob Perry Condor Express, and CondorExpressPhotos.com
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