Image: the beefy tail flukes and waterfall of a giant blue whale.
2024 08-02 SB Channel
Captain Eddy reports sunny skies with flat calm seas, all day. Sightings for the day included: 1000 common dolphins, 100 offshore bottlenose dolphins, 2 giant blue whales, 1 fin whale, and 1 humpback whale.
We headed southwest and ended up north of the beautiful West End of Santa Cruz Island. Our first sighting was a megapod of common dolphins located just north of The Lanes. We watched them for a while and then spotted a spout south of us, in the Separation Zone. It was a single adult humpback whale, in travel mode, with long down times, heading west.
Nearby, in the southbound Lane, we spotted our first blue whale. It was a smaller one. We had great close looks until we saw another tall spout nearby and headed in that direction. Before we reached it, a large whale popped up next to the boat and we had a one nice, quick look before we went Back to the mysterious spout. The spout belong to a large, adult blue whale. It had a long downtimes, but when it was up we had great looks especially at its massive tail. (See Photograph for an example).
On the way home, as we approached The Kelp Farm, a large, 100-strong pod of offshore bottlenose dolphins located us. The pub was extremely friendly and had a large number of calves. Dolphins rode alongside, and surfed our bow, side, and stern waves.
You never know what Mother Nature has in store.
Bob Perry
Condor Express, and
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