Clear blue water and a trio of long beaked common dolphins. June 29, 2014 Condor Express
Dolphins Put on a Show – Humpbacks Also Seen
An overcast marine layer soon burned off to blue skies and nice warm sun in the Santa Barbara Channel today. The sea surface was quite calm and glassy most of the day with some small swells from the western wind zones. Not too far out of #SantaBarbara we started to encounter various sized pods of long beaked common dolphins. Some seemed to be on the move, others were feeding upside down over much wider territories. Fortunately most all of the #dolphins took an interest in the Condor Express and some really great looks were had in the clear blue waters. Today’s rough estimate of the dolphins observed is 3,000. There were also 5 humpback whales today working alongside their dolphin brothers and sisters with lots of sooty shearwaters, elegant terns and sea lions in the mix. The whales were all about feeding down below the surface with long down times and dives that covered a lot of underwater distance. A few were seen in the shipping lanes, and a couple more were spread out in the mid-Channel region. It was a wonderful day to be out there in the wild blue.
I’ll post the photos sometime tomorrow morning to www.CondorExpressPhotos.com
You never know what Mother Nature has in store. Bob Perry Condor Express