2015 08-26 SB Channel
Captain Dave and his renowned crew, including Eagle-Eyed Augie and Big Steve, located several hot areas full of marine life today. It was a sunny, cloudless day, and hot when the boat slowed down. The mill pond glass surface lasted all day. Our first stop was to watch 100 or so long-beaked common dolphins around 1038 am. Quite a few little calves were mixed in with this pod, and one little beast took off by itself and zoomed all around the bow of the Condor Express before finding its mother again. Stretching out !
Moving west, by 1105 we were on another 600 long-beaked common #dolphins, one big, friendly Minke whale, and eventually (as we patrolled the zone) 10 humpback whales. One of the humpbacks was the same injured whale we saw last week that had two deep v-grooves in its tail stock. Late in the sighting, two humpbacks did some surface lunge feeding…always spectacular to see!
At noon we headed south for Santa Cruz Island and the world famous Painted Cave. It took about an hour to drive over there and do the tour, then we were “on the hunt” as we headed back across the Santa Barbara Channel. Twenty minutes later we had a region that produced 4 more humpback whales. One of the larger individuals did a bit of kelping which always thrills the vegetarians and carnivores alike. Another 500 dolphins kept the humpbacks company.
Our final sighting of the day was at 208 pm and 3 more humpbacks were sighted amidst several large pods of common dolphins, perhaps 750 total for this spot. The water was clear and the whales kicked up their flukes often in the bright sun. What more could any whale watcher want?
You never know what Mother Nature has in store. Bob Perry Condor Express
PS Please note that there is no public whale watching trip this Saturday, August 29 as we have the American Cetacean Society charter trip all day.
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