Image: A humpback whale takes and upside-down swim
2023 12-16 SB Channel
With storms predicted for the week ahead, it was so great to experience such wonderful weather and sea conditions today. Skies were sunny and the seas were calm. A very light chop developed in the afternoon. The water clarity in The Channel remains crystal clear. Sightings included: 1 humpback whale and 20 coastal bottlenose dolphins.
Captain Dave and the crew transected The Channel, from Santa Barbara Harbor on the mainland to Potato Harbor at Santa Cruz Island. The scenery was spectacular and very clear vistas, from Malibu to Pt Conception, made for an exceptional trip.
Before our tour of Potato Harbor, we spent considerable quality time with a highly animated humpback. In addition to breaching at least 8 times, it did some loud pectoral fin slapping. It also demonstrated its talent for the backstroke by swimming around upside-down with its aforementioned pectoral fins in the air (see today’s photo for an example).
There were more views of the islands and mainland on the way back home. But, to seal-the-deal, we intercepted a large pod (large for coastal bottlenose) of coastal bottlenose dolphins near Stern’s Wharf. The dolphins, like the humpback, were very active. As they led the Condor Express through the East Beach Anchorage, there was abundant rolling and rubbing, vocalizing a bit, and, of course, high-flying leaps. The pod contained several calves, too.
Bob PerryCondor Express, and
Humpback encounter provided all the excitement and gamut of acrobatics that you could anticipate. Backstroke is an odd permutation of pectoral flipper slapping. Bottlenose Dolphins have an amazing repertoire of high-flying acrobatics.
It wanted you to rub its belly!!!!
Did you?