Whales and dolphins and fog patches.

2022 07-30 SB Channel – West

There were sunny skies with areas of dense fog and no wind all day. The fog restricted visibility to near zero at times. Nonetheless, we closely watched: 3 humpback whales, 1 Minke whale, 3000 long-beaked common dolphins and 40 California sea lions.

Our trip out to the NOAA East Channel Buoy was sunny, but upon arrival, the fog shut things down. A large adult Minke whale cruised by slowly at one point. We moved west. As we drove further, we crossed paths with 40 sea lions that were in a tight mob and had synchronized their swimming.

To the west we found a single sub-adult humpback whale. It made several close passes and went into an upside-down lob-tailing spree. I am always amazed at the tail power these whales feature from both directions, dorsal and ventral. They all do it and it’s always amazing to watch. After a while this whale slowly left the area and swam east.

We had common dolphins in larger pods today, most in the 100-200 range. They found us a few miles from the harbor and this continued out past the Buoy and further west to the Hondo area. Near Hondo we found the same mother-calf humpback pair we watched yesterday. The calf spent some time showing mom some affection by rolling around next to her flanks and rubbing its body on hers.

As a side note, there were egg yolk jellies around today.

You never know what Mother Nature has in store.

Bob Perry Condor Express, and CondorExpressPhotos.com