Image: A giant blue whale makes a close approach to the Condor Express.
2024 07–24 SB Channel
Although our first hour consisted of dense, zero visibility fog, by 11 AM it burned off and it was sunny the rest of the day. The ocean surface was calm with light ripples. Once again, the beautiful clear “Santa Barbara cobalt blue” water was present. Sightings for the day: 2000 common dolphins, 1 humpback whale, 10 giant blue whales.
Dolphins were present throughout the day, starting about 2 miles out. The largest pod we had was 500 strong, but there are lots of them around that were smaller.
Six miles out we had an encounter with a single humpback whale. Judging by its physical appearance, captain Dave believes this is the “9 mile whale“ that followed him around all over The Channel last week. Unfortunately, today it had short surface times and long dives during which it moved in random distances and directions. We did manage to squeeze out some good looks nonetheless.
The best, and most surprising sighting of the day, took place southwest of The Buoy. Here we found a tight bunch of at least 10 giant blue whales. About half of them were juveniles. A couple of them had a habit of making slow motion dives, holding their tail flukes high in the air for all to see. One or two surfaced close to the Condor Express after a dive. (See today’s photo for an example). There must’ve been a single, large sub surface krill layer that attracted all these hungry blues. (Red poop was seen to confirm this).
On the way home more we spotted more small groups of dolphins.
You never know what Mother Nature has in store.
Bob Perry
Condor Express, and
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