Wonderful looks were had by all.
2017 07-01 SB Channel
Although it was foggy in spots and overcast most of the day, the sea conditions were quite nice and we saw our share of cetaceans. Today we closely watched: 4 blue whales, 4 humpback whales and 500 long-beaked common dolphins. Captain Dave and his crew took the Condor Express across the Santa Barbara Channel to the whale feeding grounds.
Our first sightings took place about 5 miles south of Santa Barbara harbor when over 100 dolphins found the boat and surfed the waves all around us. Soon 4 humpbacks that were feeding sub-surface came into the dolphin area and 3 of them came very close to the boat. Dave had the boat in neutral at the time.
After the wonderful dolphin/humpback sightings we continued on our southerly track and located the giant blue whales. The giants had moved a bit west of yesterday’s contact point, and we were at the mouth of the Santa Cruz Channel with 4 blue whales. Wonderful looks were had by all at these marvelous creatures.
On the way home to Santa Barbara, we were running a little bit late but saw several more humpback whale spouts and several hundred additional dolphins.
You never know what Mother Nature has in store. Bob Perry Condor Express