Lady Luck smiled upon Captain Eric and the crew of the Condor Express as they found a “flat like a lake” day with warm sunshine and no fog. This set the stage for a day of great sightings which included 3 humpback whales (more all around), at least 3,500 long-beaked common dolphins, and around 200 of those master show-offs, the offshore bottlenose dolphins.
Not too far off Santa Barbara harbor, on the 50-fathom curve, we began running into hot spots with humpback whales feeding alongside hundreds of common dolphins. Dives were short and surface times were regular, which was an ideal situation in ideal seas. Moving further south, an additional humpback was located with additional dolphins on the northern side of The Lanes.
A good check of The Lanes yielded nothing in the way of target cetacean species. En route to the world-famous Painted Cave a maternity pod of highly active offshore bottlenose dolphins swam a direct course for the boat. We spent time with these dolphins, went into the mouth of the cave, and on the track home watched the same big pod of offshore bottlenose dolphins when they found us the second time. Another humpback whale was spotted as it spy-hopped in a paddy of detached, floating giant kelp.
You never know what Mother Nature has in store. Bob Perry Condor Express
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