2021 08-07 SB Channel
The Old Spanish Days Fiesta is in full swing throughout the City and a great place to view Santa Barbara is out at sea from the Condor Express. Seas were glassy and calm all day, and early high stratus grayness turned sunny in the early afternoon. Sightings included: 5000+ long-beaked common dolphins, 1 Minke whale, 300 offshore bottlenose dolphins, and 1 humpback whale. Aye, aye, aye!
Okay, that’s a lot of common dolphins for one 4 ½ hour trip. The first pods located us around 8 miles out and literally covered the ocean surface until we reached The Lanes 12 miles out. A single, somewhat shy Minke whale was on patrol among the first commons that we watched.
Smaller pods continued to find us as we ran west along the cost of Santa Rosa Island, and even more were with us on the trip home. Most of the larger pods were actively feeding alongside numerous sea birds.
Along the northwest face of Santa Rosa Island, a small feeding hot spot included some more common dolphins, and a large herd of offshore bottlenose dolphins. The bottlenose herd included lots of young calves!
On the trip home we had more common dolphins and in one area, 4 miles south of Goleta, a large adult humpback whale popped up. We had great looks at this whale and the glassy surface enhanced all of our sightings today.
You never know what Mother Nature has in store. Bob Perry Condor Express, and CondorExpressPhotos.com