Krill Banquet
We played with 2 coastal bottlenose dolphins a herd of around 500 common dolphins not far out of Santa Barbara Harbor today. There was a light fog with 1 mile visibility in place, but seas were calm. After the initial dolphin playtime, we ran out to the southeast and found a massive area of krill on the surface in the commercial shipping lanes. All this food was apparently a magnet for hungry humpback whales (we watched 5, more in the area) and 1 Minke whale. Captain Eric located the first whale on the grounds by its monster breaching and splashing. This behavior continued for a while and was interspersed with tail slapping, pectoral fin slapping and some nice spy hops. There was non-stop surface lunge feeding from both species of baleen whales today, and their mouths were red with krill. After a wonderful session, we headed back home and on the way encountered another herd of approximately 1,000 common dolphins. It was another epic cetacean adventure in the annals of the Condor Express.
You never know what Mother Nature has in store.. Bob Perry Condor Express
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