Image: Common dolphin mother and calf, showing fetal fold marks on calf.
2024 07-16 SB Channel
Captains Eddy and Danny switched back and forth at the helm today, so both of them and the crew deserve the credit. Skies were bright and sunny. Seas alternated between almost glass with little or no chop, to a breeze with some light chop. Sightings for the day included: 4 humpback whales, 4000 common dolphins and 100 California sea lions.
We spent most of the trip captivated by the gorgeous weather and scenery which revealed all 4 islands. Similarly, most of the trip was characterized by dolphins, with herds ranging from the low hundreds to some megapods over a thousand. Most were friendly and often surfed our stern waves. One of the early pod was a mating and young calf nursery pod. Many of the tiny calves had visible fetal fold marks from only recently being released from their folded position in utero. (See on of my photographs from today’s trip above for an example).
Most of the dolphin pods were not engaged in feeding and no bait seen in the water. All seemed to be in slow search and socialization mode.
Just before 2pm, after circling most of the Santa Barbara Channel searching for whales, we watched 3 separate individual humpbacks with a fourth seen breaching nearby. We had good looks and several close passes in our session.
You never know what Mother Nature has in store.
Bob Perry
Condor Express, and
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