Mellow giant

2022 04-29 SB Coast

Only one public whale watch trip left the dock today and it was at 12 noon. There was no wind. There was no swell.  There were no clouds. It was a beautiful day! Sightings for the trip included: 2500 Long-beaked common dolphins, 300 California sea lions, and one humpback whale.

Our first species interaction took place with a mega pod of common dolphins that was spread across a 3 mile wide feeding zone. They were mixed with all sorts of active predatory sea birds and approx  300 California sea lions. There was an abundance of northern anchovy bait balls near the surface.

Moving west to a spot about 5 miles off Hope Ranch, we located a single very large adult humpback whale. It spent been most of the time logging, then it would took an eight minute dive, come back to the surface, and do some more logging. On two of these surfacing/logging occasions the beast came up quite close to the boat. It remained motionless next to our hull in a very tranquil state. You never know what Mother Nature has in store. Bob Perry Condor Express, andCondorExpressPhotos.com