2018 07-13 SB Channel
The “summer of the blues” continued today. Captain Dave and his crew traveled across the Santa Barbara Channel to the giant whale congregation near Santa Cruz Island. The crew reports seeing more than 20 big blue whales in the area, and watched 14 closely. In addition, 600 long-beaked common dolphins were observed.
There was not much mammal life as the Condor Express crossed the Channel until we reached The Lanes. Initially, a greeting party of several hundred dolphins located the boat and there was some memorable human-whale eye contact. Dolphies (dolphin selfies) were to be had all around. Soon, however, we entered the area where the giants have been feeding sub-surface all summer. At this point, Captain Dave put the boat in neutral and remained fairly stationary. Instead of following whales, today we just enjoyed the high abundance of blues all around as the came to the surface, breathed 10 or more times, then descended. There were whales on the surface nonstop.
Among the giant blues was one individual that was not so huge. A mother and her very small blue whale calf were watched closely. Dave says this is the smallest blue whale calf he has ever seen…perhaps 20 feet long at the most. Wow! It was such a spine-tingling honor to be among the first other organisms to meet and greet this baby whale.
More dolphins continued to pass through the whale zone during the time we spent in neutral.
You never know what Mother Nature has in store. Bob Perry Condor Express, and CondorExpressPhotos.com