Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been tagged as “humpback whale”
Humpback whale antics With very rough seas and high winds out a the Islands, Captain Eric steered a course for the eastern Santa Barbara Channel today in search of humpback whale and other marine mammals. He played with at least 2,000 common dolphins and then found one of the mother-calf pairs that we saw throughout the Fall season. Both mom …
I’ve been shooting photos on the Condor Express for 8 years and I have never, ever seen so much humpback whale gluttony on one trip as we saw today. We had over a dozen humpback whales in an area to the southeastern Santa Barbara Channel. Most of them came together on a hot spot and continued to lunge feed on …
The wisps of fog that enshrouded Santa Barbara Harbor quickly lifted as we pushed to the east. At times there were little “sucker holes” of sun and warmth, but for the most part it was glassy smooth but with a low overcast ceiling. Once on the feeding grounds the ceiling did not matter. We were surrounded by humpback whales. Captain …
Ideal conditions again on the Santa Barbara Channel feeding grounds. Today we watched as 8 humpback whales and 6 Minke whales gorged themselves on anchovy schools. The humpbacks were once again lunge feeding on the surface for all to witness. At least 1,000 common dolphins were observed (plus or minus) feeding alongside the seabirds, whales and sea lions. Hope to …
We watched two adult humpback whales today mixed in with 1,500 or so common dolphins feeding on anchovies. One of the humpbacks we recognize as having an all white tail and very heavy white scarring across the back. The other whale was our friend with the prop scar. Early fog burned off to ideal sea conditions on the Channel today. …
Calm seas and a nice humpback whale. Once again we took advantage of the extremely nice sea conditions along the mainland coast to find humpback whales and Minke whales. As is has been for a few weeks now, the day featured overcast skies and a sea surface that remained mill pond glassy smooth until we were well on our way …
Baleen on the Flats Whoa! Did Captain Dave do it again! We left the harbor and ran southeast towards Platform Hillhouse where we encountered several friendly pods of long beaked common dolphins and their sooty shearwater aerial accompanists. The sky had a thin overcast, and the ocean surface wall mill pond glass. Before long the eagle eyes of Captain Dave …
Coastal and west island action. Today we had great marine mammal sightings along the coast and again to the far west near Santa Rosa Island, with nothing to see in between. The day started off about a mile and a half outside the Santa Barbara Harbor entrance when Captain Dave decided to take a look-see at some birds and common …
I knew it was going to be a good day today when Debbie the naturalist pointed out an adult osprey perched right next to the Condor Express on a post at the small boat landing ramp. It posed, looked down, looked up, spread its wings…a very cooperative raptor. This was a special sight to behold. After clearing the Harbor, Eric …
Though we plied the Santa Barbara Channel from the mid Channel buoy eastward to Scorpion and back again, we “only” observed one humpback whale today. I put “only” in quotes because today was a day of QUALITY versus QUANTITY. Here’s the story. About 4 miles out from Santa Barbara Harbor on a southerly course heading we saw a single humpback …