Image: a hotspot with a birdnado, feeding humpback whales, dolphins and, of course, birds.
2024 07-28 SB Channel
Captain Danny and the crew reported conditions similar to yesterday. Things started off calm and then got windy. It was sunny all day. The water clarity remains fantastic. Sightings for the day included: 5+ humpback whales, 2000 common dolphins, and four large Ocean sunfish (Mola mola).
The first major sighting of the day took place just as we pulled away from our traditional opening visit with the sea lions on the harbor entrance buoy. An absolute monster ocean sunfish was seen drifting very cooperatively right next to the Condor Express. Crew member Kelly captured wonderful video which you can see here:
Out next stop was the rig line off Summerland. We watched a small pod of dolphins just before the rigs, and another pod just after passing through the rigs. We would see dolphins on and off in small pods all day.
We set a course for the far southeastern edge of The fFlats, near Platform Gilda. On the way out, we drove by two additional, large, ocean sunfish.
Just north of Gilda, we closely observed 5 humpback whales with many more spouts in the area. Among the 5, there was an extremely friendly cow-calf pair. As so often happens, the little calf was very active. It made several close approaches, breached close to the boat, rolled around, swam upside down, and was, in general, very active. The other humpbacks were busy feeding in an active birdnado/hotspot. (See today’s photograph for an example).
As we slowly turned and prepared to head home, a humpback whale surface lunged four times. He was a spine-tingling sight. On the way home we passed another ocean sunfish and more dolphins.
You never know what Mother Nature has in store.
Bob Perry
Condor Express, and
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