Wednesday, August 10, 2016 – The early morning stratus burned off right away and it became sunny all day. Seas were calm. This trip yielded the following close and substantial looks: 3 humpback whales, 2,500 long-beaked common dolphins, and hundreds of California sea lions, elegant terns, brown pelicans and sooty shearwaters. There were great humpback whale tails later in the trip.
Not far from Santa Barbara harbor the dolphins began to find the boat and ride everything we put out. There were dolphins around us all day long. Captain Dave steered a course for the western Santa Barbara Channel, and the second observational stop took place south of The Lanes and at the same longitude as the Santa Cruz Channel.
The second sighting also had plenty of dolphins, and also produced three very nice humpback whales in the mix. The humpback whales were surrounded by dolphins and also had to contend with a mob of California sea lions. All the humpback whales fluked-up regularly and were great for PID (photo identification).
The trip home was calm and filled with dolphins.
You never know what Mother Nature has in store. Bob Perry Condor Express