Image: A powerful vertical lunge-feeding by an adult humpback whale showing the baleen hanging from its upper jaw. Northern anchovies can be seen in the expelled water…bycatch.
2024 07-27 SB Channel
In just under an hour, the dense fog broke up and the skies were sunny and blue for the rest of the excursion. There was a 4 to 5 foot western bump, and there was no wind locally. The water clearly remains superb. Sightings for the day: 3000 common dolphins, 4 Humpback whales, and 2 Ocean sunfish (Mola mola).
Once again there were no huge pods of dolphins, but we did find dolphins everywhere we went. The first small pods were seen north of the rigs. Dave gave a wonderful water angle tour and discussion about platform Hillhouse. He also talked about the history of oil exploration in The Channel, and how pipes transport the oil down to LA.
We would end up in the far east, farther than we have gone so far this year. Were just north of platform Gilda at the end of our route. One of our first sightings, down on the eastern edge of The Flats, was the first of two really BIG ocean sunfish that we’d see today. What an unusual beast! Other worldly!
Just before our lengthy humpback whale experience, there was another giant sunfish. This one popped up in front of the boat, and Captain Dave had to put on the brakes to make sure it didn’t go down the center of the two hulls where it most assuredly would’ve been hit by our planing blade. Kudos to our friend Mark for calling it out and saving another life on the open ocean. Mola’s everywhere appreciate your continued efforts!
We saw our first large humpback whale. Just one 1/4 mile away, there were 3 more. The trio was made up of a cow-calf pair plus a young whale. The fun began. Mom did a huge tail throw. Dave pointed out a large ball of bait on the surface (to our passengers, not the whale), just before mom did a giant vertical lunge and gobbled the entire bait ball down in one massive gulp. (See today’s photograph for an example of this feeding strategy).
The trip home was slow-going due to the oncoming bump. We did pass by a few more pods of dolphins along the way.
You never know what Mother Nature has in store.
Bob Perry
Condor Express, and
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