Sunny skies and moderate seas produce another epic dolphin day plus multiple excellent humpback encounters.
- Bob Perry
- Jun 22
- 2 min read
Captain Dave and the crew took the Condor Express south to the edge of The Lanes. Skies were sunny all day. A bit of residual lump was on the water, but not as much as yesterday. There was no wind at all until the afternoon. Totals for the day included 6000+ Common dolphins, 6 Humpback whales and 100 California sea lions. In addition, the crew removed 1 floating, deteriorating Mylar balloon and 1 large plastic bag from the ocean surface today.
There were large groups and countless mega pods of dolphins everywhere again today. You may recall yesterday was a record breaker, and there were just slightly less today. Every encounter with whales included dolphins. During one dolphin episode, they were moving at high speed. Along with the dolphins we watched a mob of porpoising California sea lions, “imitating the cetaceans”. It turns out that high-speed travel is enhanced by getting out of the dense water and into the air once in a while. (See today’s photo for example of this unique sea lion behavior).
We first encountered a pair of whales on the edge of The Lanes. Along with the dolphins, the whales were sub-surface feeding. They surfaced close to the boat and we experienced several full-on muggings. They worked both sides of the boat and spent a lot of time in our jet wash.
Moving east, we found 2 pairs of whales, both of which were made up of individuals not particularly in close contact. A member of the second pair breached at a distance from the boat. A particularly large megapod of at least 1000 or more dolphins were in the area with the whales.
You never know what Mother Nature has in store.
Bob Perry
