2022 08-28 – SB Channel East
SPERM WHALE.
Captain Devin and the crew found mostly clear blue skies with light and variable winds in the eastern Channel. Sightings for the day included: 1 sperm whale, 1 Minke whale and 1000 long-beaked common dolphins. Devin ran southeast to an area north of Anacapa Island.
South of the Summerland oil platforms, a mini-hot spot with a couple hundred dolphins feeding with lots of sea birds was encountered. We stopped and had great looks.
A bit further along our southeasterly heading a Minke whale made a close approach to the delight of everyone.
Close to Platform Gail (see red circle on map) we located a single adult sperm whale. It was a great encounter with several close observations. When the beast dove, it fluked-up and sank in super slow motion, with applause all around the Condor Express. We do not see sperm whales very often on our whale watching trips. This was an extra special day.
The whale had a 35 minute down time, swam about ½ mile away, surfaced again for some nice looks and stayed up, breathing for 5 minutes before sounding again.
On the way home we found a larger pod of dolphins.
You never know what Mother Nature has in store.
Bob Perry Condor Express, and CondorExpressPhotos.com