Summertime blue whales = 4, Humpback whales = 10 + Dolphins too

2015 06-26 SB Channel

Captain Eric has been on a hot streak.   Yesterday he was in charge when we had a 2-hour lunge-feeding humpback whale show.   Today not only did we watch at least 10 humpbacks, but we also had great looks at 4 giant blue whales.   Dolphins were in abundance both days.

Pretty quickly after a spin around the sea lions on the Santa Barbara Harbor entrance buoy we found ourselves about 2 miles west of Charlie with 500 long-beaked common dolphins and one humpback whale. There was absolutely no swell on the ocean today, with June overcast skies to start the trip and a very light breeze.

Next we moved over to a wide region south of the oil rig line and watched 4 more #whales and another 500 #dolphins.   There were nice tail flukes and a few close and friendly approaches so the cetacean lovers on the Condor Express were very happy. There were additional spouts in the area.

Moving on to a location ½-mile east of Habitat, we found another wide zone with 5 more humpback whales and yet another 500 common dolphins. We watched for 15 or 20 minutes then, wanting to take advantage of the extremely calm seas, we ran south with the intention of visiting the east end of Santa Cruz Island. These plans were thwarted when, about 3.2 miles north of the island, Eric spotted one, then deck hand Tasha found another two, giant blue whales.   The beasts had 10-minute down times that you could set your watch to.   And, on three occasions, they fluked up to send thrills up and down their fans’ spines. A fourth whale surface within a few hundred yards of the boat and we followed it too.

July and August are typically our blue whale months. We hope today is a good sign that they have arrived early.

You never know what Mother Nature has in store. Bob Perry Condor Express

PS   I’ll post up today’s photographs sometime on Sunday.