2015 04-16 SB Coast
Two trips. Two exciting excursions. Bright sun, light breeze, mixed swells from southeast and west. Fun had by all.
12 noon. Three coastal bottlenose dolphins watched from the green buoy well into the East Beach anchorage. Outside of that position, Eric spotted a mother gray whale and her calf which we followed past the Lighthouse with one diversion. The diversion was a short trip out to mingle with about 100 Pacific white-sided dolphins. The #dolphins were busy feeding and only spent a few moments riding the bow. We went back to the cow-calf #whale pair which by now had moved very close to the surf zone. At one point 4 or 5 additional bottlenose dolphins messed around with the whales, but only for a short while since the dolphins were heading down the beach and the whales were on their northbound migration.
3pm. The late afternoon adventure took us to the far west. Sea conditions had moderated quite a bit to make this an enjoyable ride. Near Campus Point we intersected another mother gray whale and her calf. We had great looks for quite a while, including some spy-hopping by the calf. The ride back east to Santa Barbara Harbor featured a nice session with 1,000 long-beaked common #dolphins.
You never know what Mother Nature has in store. Bob Perry Condor Express
Photos from the noon adventure will be posted this weekend
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