Image: The Condor Express track today.
2023 11-25 SB Channel - West
Strong Santa Ana winds blew offshore in the eastern Channel and created some residual SE winds and bumpy seas in our region. Captain Dave and the crew took a long circular path to find wildlife and ended up escaping he wind off the Gaviota Coast. Sightings included: 100 offshore bottlenose dolphins, 1 humpback whale, 1100 long-beaked common dolphins and 60 or so California sea lions. The crew found and removed one old, deflated, floating Mylar balloon.
After expending a huge amount of search effort, a large pod of super active and aerial offshore bottlenose dolphins located the Condor Express off the Gaviota coast. The group was very acrobatic, did a lot of high-flying jumps and leaped over our stern wake waves.
We moved east and watched two groups of long-beaked common dolphins. After a small group, we found a large seabird concentration with a birdnado. This supported a larger pod of common dolphins. A single juvenile humpback whale was also here. The little whale had long dive times and moved ¼ mile or more while submerged. We stayed with it through several challenging dive cycles, but eventually had to peel off and head home. We were a bit tardy returning to the dock.
You never know what Mother Nature has in store,
Bob Perry Condor Express, and