2020 06-25 SB Channel – East
There were flat, calm seas all day today with a high stratus layer all morning and sunny patches after 12 noon. Captain Dave and his crew ran southeast to an area that was very productive yesterday adjacent to the National Park Service property on Santa Cruz Island. From there he continued west. Sightings today were amazing: 3 giant blue whales, 200 pelagic bottlenose dolphins, 3500 long-beaked common dolphins and 12 coastal bottlenose dolphins. There really wasn’t much time when we were not amongst cetaceans.
Similar to yesterday’s common dolphin report, there were commons everywhere and plenty of them. Watching them on the mirror ocean surface today was as amazing as it was inspirational. Speaking of dolphins, we found a very large herd of pelagic bottlenose dolphins that was spread out over a mile of water. In addition to their typical acrobatic behavior, this group featured numerous little calves and a lot of boat-friendliness.
The first giant blue whale was seen in The Lanes and off the Scorpion Anchorage. It had dives that were on the shorter side of normal and did some nice tail fluking. Later, after moving the Condor Express west, an additional 2 blues were watched, and one of them was another fluker.
On the way home and just outside Santa Barbara Harbor, we had the good fortune to encounter and watch a nice pod of coastal bottlenose dolphins.
You never know what Mother Nature has in store. Bob Perry Condor Express, and
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