Image: a close-up look at a Risso’s dolphin in the Santa Barbara Channel.
2024 07-08 SB Channel
The stratus was pretty thick at the start of the trip, but once we got to mid-Channel things opened up nicely. Seas were glassy all day. Sightings today were phenomenal, with six different species of marine mammals being watched, plus…ocean sunfish! Sightings: 1 Fin whale, 1 Minke whale, 3 humpback whales, 12 Risso’s dolphins, 5000 common dolphins, 12 California sea lions and 4 ocean sunfish (Mola mola). In addition, the crew removed one deflated, floating, Mylar balloon from the ocean surface.
Starting just south of the Kelp Farm, we closely watched a lot of surface feeding going on as there were plenty of bait fish on the surface. This spot produced 2000 common dolphins, we had great looks as they came to boat during their feeding. A single Minke whale surfaced twice. There were plenty of seabirds in the area as well as a nice mob of sea lions… All busy feeding on the baitfish. Sure enough, before long, a single large humpback whale came to the surface and did a sideways lunge to feed. Awesome sightings here!
Near the mid-Channel area we had two surface intervals to watch a large fin whale. The glassy water enhanced all the sightings.
Moving southeast a bit, we found another megapod of common dolphins as well as a mother humpback with her speckled calf. The pair was in transit mode and never really left the surface while we watched.
We turned to head home, and almost immediately found a dozen friendly Risso’s dolphins in the northbound Lanes. (See today’s photo for an example). Our sighting with these beautiful big dolphins was cut short as a container cargo ship was coming towards our location.
You never know what Mother Nature has in store.
Bob Perry
Condor Express, and
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