Nearly countless hungry humpback whales spent the whole day lunge feeding. Wow!
- Bob Perry
- 1 hour ago
- 2 min read
Captain Dave and the crew located an MHH (mega honey hole) full of nearly countless humpback whales in the same general region that has been productive for the last three weeks, between platform habitat and lanes. Although skies were overcast, the ocean was glassy and there was a small, hardly noticeable swell. Total sightings for the day included 1000 common dolphins, 200 California sea lions and 30+ humpback whales (we closely watched at least 20).
We spent the entire trip at the same honey hole and still did not have enough time to visit every single one of the humpback whales that were all over the place. It was an interesting scenario that has been seen often lately: there were multiple large birdnados, each one had several dozen California sea lions and supported anywhere between 2 and 8 whales each. Exact counts were complicated by the fact that whales moved around, from birdnado to birdnado. The closest analogy I can think of is a city park that hosts a couple of dozen different food trucks and people can move around and devour all sorts of goodies.
We have seen many different types of behaviors these last couple of weeks as the humpback whales prepare to move S to their subtropical meeting and calving grounds. Today it was all about food.
Whale fans aboard the Condor Express not only witnessed an entire voyage full of this whale gluttony, but at one point captain Dave, as he often does, pulled up on a surface anchovy school so the passengers could look down and see the fish in the crystal clear water. Simultaneously, an adult humpback whale zoomed through with its mouth open just beneath the surface right next to the boat. It was a massive, first hand look lateral, sub surface, lunge feeding. Bravo Dave! Bravo whale! Bravo fans!
On the way home a mega pod of common dolphins located the Condor Express and we spent about a half an hour looking at them surf our bow, side, and stern waves.
You never know what mother nature has in store.
Bob Perry
NOTE: on our way out to the humpback whale grounds this morning, talented deckhand, Aspen, retrieved a horrible, floating, deflated, Mylar balloon from the ocean surface.
