2020 07-27 SB Channel
The northern half of the Channel was calm on our way out this morning, but the southern half was breezy. Nonetheless, Captain Colton and his sharp-eyed crew located 5+ giant blue whales and 500 short-beaked common dolphins. The action was 5 miles north of the western end of beautiful Santa Cruz Island.
The dolphins located the boat as a single, large pod. No sooner did we start our sighting than the whole herd went into a high-energy stampede. We followed well behind the fast moving front of small cetaceans and after a while they resumed a slower speed. During the slow speed phase theses remarkable short-beaks demonstrated their aerial skills with high-flying leaps and numerous instances of tail-walking.
South of The Lanes, in the land of the breeze, the ocean surface had a light chop on it. “Osprey-Eyes” deckhand Devin located the first giant blue whale, but it was very shy and we lost it. (These beasts are known to cover a lot of distance while submerged!). Soon afterwards, deckhand Austin found a tight pack of 5 more giant blues. We spent most of our time watching this group, and we saw lots of nice tail flukes and several instances of boat-friendliness.
Captain Colton rounded out the wonderful day with a great look at the northern sea cliffs of Santa Cruz Island including a trip inside the world famous Painted Cave.
You never know what Mother Nature has in store.
Bob Perry Condor Express, and CondorExpressPhotos.com