2019 09-13 SB Channel
Captain Dave and the crew steered a course for Santa Cruz Island on what turned out to be an absolutely stellar, picture perfect day in the Santa Barbara Channel. Sightings today included 100 offshore bottlenose dolphins, 2500 long-beaked common dolphins, and six humpback whales. Oh, by the way, we got mugged! Common dolphins were around the boat all day starting with our first encounter about 5 miles south of the Harbor. Not only were they moving around and riding that Condor express’s waves, but there were many active feeding hotspots. Moving further south, about 7 miles from home, we experienced two large adult whales. When I say “experienced,” I mean these 2 whales we’re not only very friendly, but they absolutely mugged the Condor Express for over an hour. It was time for “whalefies” all around. This was perhaps our best mugging of the summer, if not the year. A little further south we found 4 additional whales, and one of them appeared to be Dos Equis, the whale with the unusual “swoop and scoop” feeding method.
Our final stop of the day was a visit to the west end of Santa Cruz Island. We visited the majestic see cliffs, and entered the first chamber of the worlds longest see cave, the Painted Cave. As we left the cave and started to head back home, we watched a large herd of over 100 offshore bottlenose dolphins. This herd stretched out for over a mile and was very very active… loads of leaping and jumping, and chasing each other around at high-speed‘s. Wow! You never know what Mother Nature has in store.
Bob Perry
Condor Express, and CondorExpressPhotos.com
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