All the action was close to Santa Cruz Island today.
- Bob Perry
- 1 hour ago
- 2 min read
2025 11–04 SB Channel
This voyage was a private charter for SpaceX employees from nearby Vandenberg Space Force Base. The day started out with a high overcast but cleared completely by the time we were mid Channel. Seas were calm, and there was a gently rolling swell out near Santa Cruz Island. The water was a crystal clear “Santa Barbara cobalt blue”. Sightings for the day: 5 humpback whales and 200 California sea lions. In addition, our deck Aspen removed a special “happy birthday” cluster of 5 deflated, floating, mylar balloons from the ocean surface.
Captain Dave headed almost directly S until we were well past the buoy and into the lanes. All the action took place here. There were a total of 5 whales in the area. We started out watching 3, then another single came and so did a fifth whale. These whales were very friendly and came close to the Condor Express while they were busy feeding on the surface anchovy Schools.
Part of the time the whales were feeding a sub surface, but there were sideways and vertical lunges. During this time the whales came together to make a group of 5, then split apart 3+2, then 4+1, then 3+1+1. There was a lot of cooperation going on during the feeding. A few small bird birdnados were seen in the area. There were several hundred California sea lions. Once again the sea lions were following their standard dive cycle for interacting with surface feeding humpback whales. (As a refresher: whales dive down, then sea lions dive down, sea lions pop back up, then whales come back up. Repeat.)
Our time in the southern channel was crowned by an island tour as captain Dave moved the boat along the majestic sea cliffs, grotto and caves while discussing the history of Santa Cruz Island and its inhabitants.
You never know what mother nature has in store.
Bob Perry
