2022 07-28 SB Channel – West
It was 11am and the blue skies/warm sunshine improved everyone’s vision and photography. Seas were flat calm all day. Sightings included: 6 humpback whales (including Scarlet*), 2500 long-beaked common dolphins and 100+ California sea lions.
There were scattered pods of dolphins all day and the pod size increased as we moved west towards the hot spot. Our first whales were sighted offshore from Elwood Beach and out on the edge of The Lanes. It was the same cow-calf pair we watched yesterday and today’s looks were fantastic. We moved east.
A bit east there were 4 more humpback whales, lots of dolphins and 2 large mobs of sea lions. One of the 4 had a deep, prominent propeller scar across her back that created a couple of very large spheres or globes of flesh, almost like very big external tumors. Our long-time followers will already know that I am describing none other than our old pal Scarlet. Here’s a link to my Scarlet photo gallery from past years: https://www.condorexpressphotos.com/Scarlet/
While watching the foursome, one of the whales got airborne for a massive breach…enough to send the dolphins and sea lions scrambling. Later in the sighting Scarlet and a friend mugged the Condor Express for a while before the rest of the quartet joined the celebration of human-dolphin mutual appreciation.
You never know what Mother Nature has in store.
Bob Perry Condor Express, and CondorExpressPhotos.com