12-13-14 Lovin’ the blue whales, humpbacks and dolphins
The moderate seas and fresh breeze created some spectacular vistas from Pt. Conception to Boney Ridge, and Anacapa Island to San Miguel Island. It was great to get clean sea air into your nostrils. After a bit of rock and roll we found a super cooperative giant blue whale. The #whale had 13 minute down times, but spouted at least 10 times or so on each surfacing. Seeing this beast crashing through the oncoming swells and sending its mighty spout asunder in the wind…all this in bright sunlight conditions….sent chills down my spine and caused my camera shutter to go into rapid fire mode. After a wonderful long session with the big blue whale, we moved onward to a pair of humpback whales nearby. The two dove together, traveled a considerable distance to the east, spouted once and repeated this cycle. Crafty ‘ol Captain Dave anticipated their surface positions with the kind of whale intuition that comes with decades of experience working with these knobby-headed animals. On our way back towards Santa Barbara Harbor we came upon a mega pod of at least 1,000 long beaked common dolphins. Again the high seas and moderate winds made viewing these #dolphins a very special thing. The end of the day featured some overhead squawking that turned out to be crows mobbing a large Osprey. Wow, what a day.
I’ll get the photographs from today’s adventure posted up sometime tomorrow.
You never know what Mother Nature has in store. Bob Perry Condor Express