2022 09-07-SB Channel
Today the Condor Express circled up to the west near Holly, then south past The Lanes to the Santa Cruz Channel, to the west end of Santa Cruz Island and home again. There were blue skies and flat, calm seas all day. Sightings included: 1 ocean sunfish (Mola mola), 1 humpback whale, 400 short-beaked common dolphins and 1000 long-beaked common dolphins.
Small groups of long-beaks were first encountered near Platform Holly. While moving between groups, we watched a medium-sized ocean sunfish (Mola mola).
We took advantage of the calm day to move south into the Santa Cruz Channel (between Santa Cruz and Santa Rosa Island). It was extra smooth sailing in these waters and soon the Condor Express was “discovered” by a pod of short-beaks. They were both acrobatic and aerial today and lots of fun to watch.
Off the west end of Santa Cruz Island, we interacted with a pod of 800+ long-beaks then moved north to cross the Channel on our way back to the harbor.
The trip home was punctuated by a nice session with a single, small humpback whale. The whale had an average 5 min down time, and, after a while, it got friendly with the boat. It passed up and down the sides, crossed our bow and swam under our hulls.
Further along our track home we found another nice large pod of long-beaks.
You never know what Mother Nature has in store.
Bob Perry Condor Express, and CondorExpressPhotos.com