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Dolphin and Sea Lion Masses and Top Notch too


A straight line of incredibly fast moving common dolphins.


Dolphin and Sea Lion Masses and Top Notch too

Top Notch the medium sized humpback whale was found moving from dolphin pod to #dolphin pod this morning, perhaps sharing the same anchovy schools.  At one point TN came alongside the Condor Express pretty darned close and we all got really great looks.  TN is a great “fluker-uper” too.  On patrol in the same area (all this so far was north Channel) were at least 3 Minke whales, and one of them was a biggie.  Hundreds of California Sea Lions in mobs of 30 of 40 were marauding through the zone porpoising like the dolphins and pestering the #whale.  Several of them posed for portrait photos and I’ll post up all the pics, including the furry brown ones, sometime tomorrow to our photo web site.  The ocean was flat and calm so we ran across and had a nice tour of the western end of Santa Cruz Island including the world famous Painted Cave.   On our way to the cave we encountered “Psycho-Cormy,” a psychologically deranged Brandt’s cormorant that appeared to want to land on the Condor Express (that was traveling at 22 knots at the time).  It flew around the boat at low levels and almost took off the baseball caps of the guys standing on the bow.  Then it flew alongside and tried to land on one of the hand rails on the sundeck…all without luck.   Later, on the way home from the Cave and SCI we ran across a super high speed line of common dolphins that were kicking up the water and were really hauling.  I put a photo of this above for your enjoyment.  All in all it was a wonderful day on the Santa Barbara Channel.

Schedule note:  Monday’s trip will be 1 pm to 530 pm.

You never know what Mother Nature has in store. Bob Perry Condor Express

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