Dave and his crew led a fantastic wildlife tour today and saw some great marine mammals in the Santa Barbara Channel. 3 humpback whales, 800 long-beaked common dolphins and 3 mega-mobs of California sea lions with at least 750 animals total. Conditions were very nice with a light breeze, sunny skies and a large ground swell that you might not even notice because of its very long period.
Things got started with a bang only 2 miles out of Santa Barbara. The first of several pods of dolphins, this one with at least 100 animals, come to the Condor Express and rode the bow, side and stern wake. Dave continues to move south.
Quite a ways north of The Lanes two of our 3 humpback whales made a bee-line for the boat. Both were large and in charge, one with white pectoral fins. The surfaced and swam within feed of our twin hulls, and dove under the boat, several times. Excellent looks were had by all.
South of The Lanes and off the western end of beautiful Santa Cruz Island another humpback was encountered. This one was a bit smaller but still wonderful to experience. Around this same area there were three mega-pods of California sea lions, each with 200 – 500 animals. Two of the three joined forced and created a super-mega-fantastic mass of brown furry pinnipeds. We go for years without seeing these dense aggregations and this season we’ve had them for at least 3 months now.
The trip back home was punctuated by two larger pods of dolphins and their wonderful-to-see behaviors.
You never know what Mother Nature has in store. Bob Perry Condor Express