Image: a mother killer whale with her calf in the Santa Barbara Channel.
2024 07-04 SB Channel
ON behalf of everyone at the Condor Express,I’d like to wish you a happy Fourth of July.
Conditions in the Channel today were good. Overcast skies became clear as a light breeze picked up near beautiful Santa Cruz Island. Sees were glassy, except near the island. Sightings for the day included: 6 killer whales, 5 humpback whales, 2500 common dolphins, and blue whales in the distance.
Past the Kelp Farm, we slowly moved through an area with several hundred dolphins. Dolphin numbers increased a substantially when we got into the lanes. In fact, as we were watching a group of 2000 dolphins, our first humpback whale popped to the surface. The dolphins and the humpback were an area with numerous birds signaling the possibility of bait fish near the surface.
We moved south of The Lanes and found any elusive mother killer whale with her young calf. With the help of the crew, and the sharp eyeballs of Captain Eddy, we followed this pair southwest and closer to the island. They eventually met up with another four killer whales. Their fan club on the Condor Express was thrilled. We spent a lot of quality time with these magnificent animals. As we watched them, we could see very tall spouts to the east of our location which were undoubtedly blue whales.
On the way home, running a little bit late, we slowly passed by 4 additional humpback whales along with a couple hundred more dolphins. What a day!
You never know what Mother Nature has in store.
Bob Perry
Condor Express, and
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