Image: a mother humpback and her calf got very friendly today!
2023 07-25 SB Channel
Captain Dave and the crew found dense fog that ran out for the first 3 miles of the trip and then things got pretty darn nice. In addition to the blue sky, the water was spectacularly cobalt. Sightings for today were phenomenon: 6000 long-beaked common dolphins, 20+ humpback whales, one Minke whale and 200 California sea lions.
As often happens, we found our first tiny pod of dolphins within a mile or two from home. We spent a little time with the pod as moved around. About 10 minutes, later found a mega pod of at least 3000 animals,
Continuing on a southwesterly heading , we soon found a pair of humpback whales with a large group of dolphins. It was a a mother with her calf. They were both very friendly, and were synchronize their diving and fluking-up simultaneously; the calf did quite a bit of rolling around.
20 minutes further along on the trip we found ourselves about 5 miles south of Platform Holly. Here we found a single humpback whale mixed in with about 3000 additional dolphins. The whale sent out several trumpet blows. 10 minutes later we found a trio of whales that came close to the boat several times, mixed in with more dolphins.
Near 1 o'clock we were still off Platform Holly snd in the same general area. We found five additional whales, a herd of 1000 dolphins, and a lonely Minke whale was there trying to pick up food around the edges of the hotspot, A couple hundred sea lions were in there as well.
One of our veteran naturalists, Rosie, called out a breaching humpback that she spotted well over a mile, away and in dense fog. Following her tip, we slowly move it over to that area… slowed down by the fact that we were in an area flush with whales. After arriving on the scene we found more dolphins, and we spent almost an hour with a single very animated humpback. For today, let's call it "Rosies whale". The beast breached countless times including one stretch when it breached five times within a minute. It did a lot of chin slapping, an uncountable amount of pectoral fin slapping, and finally it did quite a few tail throws. What a way to end the trip
You never know what Mother Nature has In store.
Bob Perry
Condor Express, and
CondorExpressPhotos.com
Fog and limited visibility seem to be an incentive for Humpbacks to engage in spectacular surface activities like breaching. Sometimes you can hear them before you see them!