The anchovy populations took advantage of the glassy, sunny zero wind day to come up and bask in the sun. Perhaps they wanted to snack on a few copepods or other planktonic life on such a nice day. Little did they know that congregating on the surface would ultimately prove to be a very bad idea. Captain Dave and the crew of the Condor Express reported three humpback whales on the anchovy grounds today. There was a single whale, then a mother with her yearling, all feeding for hours on the surface. A huge number of common dolphins, let’s call it 2,000 for now, also joined the hunt. At times a silvery tide of the little fish would flow up against the hull of the boat, only to be discovered by dolphins and sea lions. There were other humpbacks in the area as well as 5 or more hungry Minke whales. This would prove to be a real action packed day in the Santa Barbara Channel with lots of surface lunge feeding.
Tomorrow should be another epic adventure.
Tell ’em Bob sent you. Happy Holidays Bob Perry Condor Express
PS The images of yesterday’s breaching monster with the prop scar are now on the photo web site.