2015 11-22 SB Channel
Fin whale flukes, dolphin calves play, and humpbacks migrate.
This flat, calm and sunny day got started about 6 miles south of Santa Barbara Harbor with a pod of about 100 long-beaked common dolphins. The “stars” of this pod were two tiny calves that seemingly took advantage of the great weather to stray a little bit away from their mothers and had a nice “play session.” The two little dolphins zigged and zagged around chasing each other, leaped together, appeared to nuzzle and also take little nips at each other. Of course the clear cobalt water made this quite a special sighting for the dolphin fans on the Condor Express.
Moving farther offshore, Captain Eric and his crew found two humpback whales, separate from each other. The first was quite small and the second was huge. Both appeared to be migrating east, and the big one made a few very friendly close approaches to the boat.
The final major sighting of the day was a very large fin whale in the commercial shipping lanes. This was a much bigger fin whale than the one we watched yesterday. It soon became an exceptional fin whale sighting as the animal fluked up several times…which is a relatively rare behavior in our region.
You never know what Mother Nature has in store. Bob Perry Condor Express