Some fantastic looks at a friendly fin whale today in the Santa Barbara Channel.
A great fin whale, a humpback and some dolphins
The overnight drizzle ended and the clouds gave way to sunny skies in the Santa Barbara Channel. There was a moderate breeze and some chop from the west, but nonetheless Captain Dave and his Crew pushed out to the hot spots near Santa Cruz Island. Out near the Island the epic battle of “whitecaps v whalespouts” was reenacted and our first victory was an adult fin whale which spent a lot of time on the surface pushing through the pervasive seas. One surface interval was very close to the Condor Express and all the whale fans on board got fantastic looks at this second-largest species in the world. Round two consisted of a lone adult humpback whale speeding ahead to the west with longer dive times and short up times and rapid movement. It was spectacular to see each species working through the wind and swells…awesome power! Earlier in the trip, not far offshore, we played for a short while with 50 or so scattered long beaked common dolphins. As we headed home and got near the coast, the winds dropped off and it was glassy. Hopefully it will stay that way for Sunday’s trip.
Schedule note: there is no open whale watch trip tomorrow, as we are running a 10-hour pelagic birding expedition.
You never know what Mother Nature has in store. Bob Perry Condor Express
PS I’ll post up the photos from today sometime on Sunday.