2016 03-26 SB Channel
The Condor Express hosted 3 excursions today under sunny skies with a light breeze and moderate chop on the water. It was a wonderful day for cetacean variety. Here are the details:
9 am Four gray whales were located just outside the red and white buoy heading up the coast. Good looks were had. Also seen along the route were 20 each, Pacific white-sided dolphins (Lags) and long-beaked common dolphins. After seeing gray whales and dolphins west of the harbor, Captain Eric ran east to a nice spot near Platform C. Here a lone humpback whale was watched and it fluked-up on almost every dive which brought much enjoyment to its fan club on the boat.
12 noon Four more gray whales, two pairs, were observed on the early afternoon excursion. This trip also featured about 15 Lags and 50 common dolphins. The trip concluded with a visit to the same humpback whale out by Platform C that was watched on the morning adventure. Again, good tail flukes were a nice addition to a very nice trip.
3 pm The late afternoon watched 3 gray whales (a single then a pair). The single was found near Campus Point because it breached 5 or 6 times in a row and that tends to get the attention of the whale fans. This trip also saw 20 Lags. On the way back to the east and near the Goleta Pier, a small northern anchovy hot spot had developed and was being attacked by 6 inshore bottlenose dolphins. One of the bottlenose was a very small calf…smaller than we’ve seen in several years. This was a special sighting for sure. There was an inordinate amount of cetacean variety today.
You never know what Mother Nature has in store. Bob Perry Condor Express