2015 07-31 SB Channel
Captain Dave and his crew racked-up some impressive sightings with ideal weather and sea conditions out in the Santa Barbara Channel. After leaving Santa Barbara and heading south towards Santa Cruz Island, our first sighting was in the Lanes and it was a very showy humpback whale. This beast did a bit of surface lunge feeding on some northern anchovy bait balls, and also paid a few friendly visits to the Condor Express. Dave also put the boat up close to one of these bait balls and seeing them swarm together in the crystal clear Channel Islands Cobalt water was awesome.
Throughout the day there were Minke whales on patrol, and by the end of the trip Dave estimated 5 Minke’s had been clearly seen near the visual range of our whale watchers. Long-beaked common dolphins played with the Condor all day too, and at least 750 were watched. Again that CI Cobalt water made the #dolphin and #whale experiences fantastic.
Later we toured the west end of Santa Cruz Island and the world-famous Painted Cave. On our way out of the cave and into the Channel we crossed paths with 35 Risso’s dolphins and the glow of their white bodies could be seen very deep into the clear water.
You never know what Mother Nature has in store. Bob Perry Condor Express