2016 04-12 SB Channel
Captain Dave and his team ran all three whale watching excursions today under sunny skies and with calm seas and spectacular vistas. It was the “day of the humpback whales” working on various size northern anchovy bait ball hot spots. Most of the hot spots were in The Flats, from Hogan to Rincon. The 9 am trip had 3 humpback whales with more in the distance. At noon 5 humpback whales were closely watched, plus another single humpback that breached once not far from the Harbor on the way home. At 3 pm 7 humpback whales were observed, again more spouts were seen all around.
Although focused on feeding and taking advantage of the monumental anchovy biomass on the surface, there was a lot of fluking-up all day long and some friendly approaches to the Condor Express as well. Several semi-submerged surface lunge feeding episodes were witnessed, and one humpback whale went through a period of lob tailing on the 3 pm trip. Long-beaked common dolphins were around all day with 25, 50 and 100 seen on each trip respectively. California sea lions and numerous sea birds were also working the hot spots, as they always do. Finally, 2 Minke whales came through the feeding grounds on the 3 pm trip.
It was certainly the day of the humpback whales.
You never know what Mother Nature has in store. Bob Perry Condor Express
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