2020 09-09 SB Channel East
Dave and his crew mustered together all of their years of experience and skills to navigate numerous periods of zero visibility fog in the Santa Barbara Channel. Moving slowly and cautiously the Condor Express ran across to The Lanes near the east end of Santa Cruz Island. Sightings for the trip included 5+ giant blue whales and 1500 long-beaked common dolphins. Luckily for everybody the fog broke up into small patches out in the land of the giants!
Scattered groups of dolphins located the boat from about 7 miles offshore and into the whaling hot spot. The size of the pods increased as we moved out. Ultimately a very big group of 500 or so was watched mingling amongst the blue whales. It is always lovely to see the two species together if not just for their size differential.
We closely observed 5 giant blue whales today, but no doubt more were around the zone but hidden in the random dense fog patches. Several nice tail flukes were recorded.
The trip home was, you guessed it, foggy! But this allowed people to relax and think about the great sightings today out near Santa Cruz Island.
You never know what Mother Nature has in store.
Bob Perry Condor Express, and CondorExpressPhotos.com
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