Image: The track of the Condor Express today.
2024 05-15 SB Channel
It was a gray and cool (temperature wise) trip, thanks to the thick marine layer. The ocean surface was quite flat and only lightly rippled. Sightings for the day included: 3+ humpback whales and 1800 common dolphins.
Captain Dave and the crew headed southwest, as you can see using the nautical chart above. When we were about 12 miles off of Goleta Bay, we encountered a large, spread out group of common dolphins that went on for a couple of miles. They were no big pods, just a bunch of small ones all over the place. Per usual, they were quite boat friendly…everyone had great looks.
When we were in The Lanes, we found and watched our first humpback whale. All the humpback whales today were adults. This one had eight minute downtimes and only fluked-up to show its tail on a few occasions.
A little further south, off the west end of Santa Cruz Island, we found a second adult humpback that was a much better fluker. There were other spouts in the distance that we did not get a chance to explore. On the way home we passed by a third whale but did not fully stop to engage it.
You never know what Mother Nature has in store.
Bob Perry
Condor Express, and
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