Image: Two humpback whales in the Santa Barbara Channel
2023 12-03 SB Channel
Partly sunny skies, no wind, and a westerly served as a backdrop to our “loop around the Channel” today. Sightings consisted of 4 humpback whales and 200 long-beaked common dolphins.
Our only dolphin encounter took place southwest of the kelp farm as a couple hundred of them located us and rode our wake. In this area we watched our first whale, a juvenile in travel mode.
Out in The Lanes another juvenile appeared to be logging, but actually moved around in a slow, confusing, zig-zag surface swim pattern.
On the trip home, eight miles from home, two individual whales were spotted. An adult and a juvenile that did not interact. We had fleeting looks at them.
You never know what Mother Nature has in store,
Bob Perry Condor Express, and
PS. Regarding yesterday’s killer whales, we do not have any ID information. The iPhone photos sent were insufficiently detailed. If you were on board and have any good images showing color pattern, please sent them to me.