A Humpback Whale mugs the Condor Express, plus Blue Whales, Common Dolphins, Sea Lions and Pigeon Guillemots. Another tremendous day with marine activity everywhere you looked.
Whalers aboard the Condor Express have an encounter with a very friendly Humpback Whale (Megaptera novaengliae) that insisted on swimming all around the boat for about an hour. Wow!
Bright red from the undigested krill (Thysanoessa spinifera) pigments, a Blue Whale's (Balaenoptera musculus) feces floats on the surface of the ocean.
Bright turquoise pectoral fins are visible just beneath the surface as this Humpback Whale (Megaptera novaengliae) visits the whalers on the Condor Express.
Big Mac: Giant Kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera) canopy floating on the surface at Santa Cruz Island. Most of the fronds are coated with the Jack Frost Bryozoan (Membranipora membranacea).
Western Gulls (Larus occidentalis) circle around a California Sea Lion (Zalophus californianus) as it tears apart an Ocean Sunfish (Mola mola) for lunch.