2015 04-12 SB Coast
Captain Eric was at the helm again today and this time he steered the mighty Condor Express on two excursions: 9am and 12 noon. Calm seas, very light breeze at times, sunny and warm: a great day for marine mammal watching.
9am West of Santa Barbara Harbor we found a pod of at least 25 Pacific white-sided dolphins mixed with California sea lions that were very friendly with the Condor Express. Speaking of friendly, the next dolphin species to do a “ride-along” was the bottlenose dolphins and we had 5 in shallow water play with us. Off Leadbetter we found the last species of the morning, a mother and calf gray whale pair.
Noon. 6 or 7 bottlenose #dolphins greeted us as we departed the Harbor, and we stayed with this pod until 2 gray #whales migrated through our path. The gray’s led us west and up near the Goleta Pier we found 50 or more Pacific white-siders (also known as Lags) spread out over a wide area with lots of California sea lions. We next took a loop offshore 5 miles or so and located a very active humpback whale. It breached several times, slapped its tail and did all this within close visual range of the boat.
You never know what Mother Nature has in store. Bob Perry Condor Express