2021 07-14 SB Channel
Captain Dave and his veteran crew once again traversed the entire Channel midriff, from Santa Barbara harbor to the Painted Cave on Santa Cruz Island, and back again. Skies had that high marine layer until around 130pm, but, consequently, seas were flat. The sightings were very good today: 6 humpback whales and 2000 long-beaked common dolphins.
Common dolphins were around in small pods, maximum 100 or so per pod, all day and throughout the Channel. Our first dolphins found us 6 miles southeast of Goleta Bay and, soon, they were joined by three single whales. All the whales were adults. The third one did quite a bit of kelping!
After a wonderful visit to the aforementioned island of the Holy Cross and it’s largest of 100+ sea caves, we located three additional single adult whales in the northbound shipping lane. The first beast was charging fast to the east with lots of dolphins there, of course. The third whale did a bit of pectoral-fin slapping and lob-tailing…always great to see!
You never know what Mother Nature has in store. Bob Perry Condor Express, and CondorExpressPhotos.com
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