Image: A couple of humpback whales are seen heading into heavy seas in the Santa Barbara Channel.
2024 12–28 SB Channel
Today was our last trip of the year. We will be doing our biannual haul-out for maintenance and inspection during January and half of February.
Today, Captain Eddy and the crew reported overcast skies with areas of dense, 1/4-mile fog. There was a large 8+ foot ground swell from the west along with smaller, choppy waves from wind. Nevertheless, sights were good: 15 California sea lions and 5 humpback whales.
Our route today took us west, directly into the oncoming seas, as far as UCSB, then we took a southerly course towards beautiful Santa Cruz Island, again with some rocking and rolling from the swells. Finally, south of the lanes and near The Island, we turned east and put all the rough weather behind us.
It wasn’t long before we spotted our first 2 humpbacks. Both were large adults in travel mode, moving west into the swells! (See today’s photo for an example).
Two more humpbacks in the area and also moving west. We had good looks, but things were a bit bumpy. As we left and headed north towards the harbor, we had a brief look at a 5th humpback whale. The whale surfaced in front of the boat, then dove out of sight
You never know what Mother Nature has in store.
Bob Perry
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