Image: A montage of common dolphin photographs from the Santa Barbara Channel.
2024 07-11 SB Channel
Captain Dave and the crew took a southwesterly course aimed at the west end of beautiful Santa Cruz Island. Seas were calm and it was a gray day from various levels of stratus. We traveled as far as The Lanes and could go no further as we were fully deluged by cetaceans at that point. Closely watched sightings for the day included: 10,000 common dolphins, 8+ humpback whales and 20 offshore bottlenose dolphins.
Common dolphins packed the Channel and we started seeing them in large numbers about 6 miles out from the Harbor. They were around us, and the whales, all day, in large numbers. (See today’s photo montage for an example).
Whales made their appearance 8 miles out. Initially we watched 2 pairs, then, as we moved slightly southwest, a 5th humpback came up. The amount of bait in the shallow water column must be phenomenal, as it attracted the whales and what was probably a record number of common dolphins for the year. Birds were feeding here, too, but did not form active birdnados. Good humpback tail flukes were seen by all. We watched the 5th whale for a short time then, moving towards additional spouts, we started to leave this first whale/dolphin/bird hot spot. As we accelerated, two adult previously watched whales breached multiple times.
The second area was in The Lanes and, alongside the dolphins, we watched an additional three humpbacks. This trio was composed of a cow-calf pair we’ve been seeing all week, the calf was identified by its unusually heavy speckled skin.
On the way home, more common dolphins, then, close to shore, we watched a 2nd species of dolphin. There were about 20 offshore bottlenose dolphins searching shallow water for bait fish. Great looks were had by all.
You never know what Mother Nature has in store.
Bob Perry
Condor Express, and