2022 09-06-SB Channel – West
The city and inland heat wave continued today and it was even a warm day offshore in the Channel. Conditions were glass flat, blue skies, and no wind. Sightings were very good: 1200 long-beaked common dolphins, 350 short-beaked common dolphins, 1 Minke whale, 3 humpback whales, and 1 ocean sunfish (Mola mola). Additionally, the crew retrieved 8 floating, deflated Mylar balloons (aka death bags) from the ocean surface…why so many this week?
Captain Dave and the crew headed west up the Channel. Our wildlife encounters began near Goleta Bay with scattered long-beaks and a very nice session with a Minke whale. We continued west.
East of Hondo we spotted our first humpback (a small whale) feeding just beneath the surface with more long-beaks. The water clarity was good and we had front row seats to the millions of anchovies in big bait balls as they were preyed upon by the dolphins and the little juvenile humpback.
We started moving south to The Lanes and soon found ourselves beset upon by a medium-sized group of short-beaks. They were on their game today with plenty of acrobatics, jumps, spins, high-flying and tail walking.
In The Lanes we found more long-beaks and a mother-calf humpback pair. We’ve watched this pair recently and the calf is strikingly white on its ventral surface and pec fin bottoms. The calf breached numerous times, did barrel-rolls, and joined Mom in some friendly mugging sessions with the Condor Express. As we eventually pulled away slowly to head home, the little one breached again.
On the way home, a nice 1 ocean sunfish (Mola mola) and too many balloons.
You never know what Mother Nature has in store.
Bob Perry Condor Express, and CondorExpressPhotos.com
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