2019 03-28 SB Channel
Captain Dave and his crew ran two trips today: one at 9 AM the other at 12 noon. Sea conditions were quite good for the morning trip, but to be honest, rapidly deteriorated for the afternoon trip. Both trips had some similarities which I will discuss later in this report. For now we will note that there were 8 humpback whales, 25 bottlenose dolphins: and 400 long-beaked common dolphins, in total, for the day. Please note that the same 4 humpback whales, and a 200 common dolphins were seen on both trips.
On the morning trip, the Condor Express encountered a large pod of bottlenose dolphins very close to the harbor. Good looks were had as these larger dolphins played in the kelp and came over to visit the boat. Moving offshore, we located a hot spot where the humpback whales and the dolphins were feeding. This included seeing some fabulous surface lunge feeding by the whales. By the time the afternoon trip left the docks, the wind and seas had kicked up quite a bit and there was bit of a bump on the water as Captain Dave took everyone offshore to see the same whales and dolphins were feeding in the morning. Many people, including myself, believe that strong winds and wave activity often motivate the humpback whales and causes them to breach and generally carry-on. And today this belief was once again confirmed. The whales took turns breaching and slapping their long pectoral fins on the water. There were also instances of sequential breaching; one breach seem to to simulate another one a little further away. This was definitely Nat Geo stuff and worth the ride! You never know what Mother Nature has in store. Bob Perry Condor Express, and CondorExpressPhotos.com