2016 12-14 SB Channel
It was a nice day with mostly sunny skies and calm seas in the Santa Barbara Channel. Captain Dave and his renowned crew scoured the region and came up with a solid day of sightings, including: 1 blue whale, 5 humpback whales, 500+ long-beaked common dolphins and a single, fleeting look at about 5 Dall’s porpoise. Here are the details.
The first 2 of the humpback whales were large, friendly adults that were found just south of The Lanes. They swam near the boat several times. Soon two more humpbacks joined in and all four mugged us. They swam right alongside as well as moving back and forth under the bow…giving the whale lovers their exercise. A fifth humpback was seen in the near distance.
A bit further south the first of two pods of dolphins came to the boat. There were about 50 animals in this group. The dolphin sighting was interrupted by the presence of a single giant blue whale. It had 15 minute down times but stayed in the zone and did the typical circling behavior when it came up. Five shy Dall’s porpoise were seen once, and they were gone.
The final sighting of the excursion was a much larger herd of perhaps 500 or so dolphins. We stayed with this group quite a while and had wonderful looks with great sea conditions and good lighting.
You never know what Mother Nature has in store. Bob Perry Condor Express
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