2013 08-09 SB Channel
3 Different Dolphin Species AND a nice Mako Shark!
Although NOAA once again predicted doom and gloom for the western Channel, Captain Mat felt differently in his bones. We ran west in very calm seas and worked the island shelf break from western Santa Cruz Island to the western end of Santa Rosa Island in search of whales. The wind an seas finally came up out in the far west Channel, so we turned back east and ran a track closer to the islands, and quickly found ourselves back in glassy blue water and calm winds.
Along the route we closely watched about 2,300 long beaked common dolphins and nearly 1,000 of their cousins, the animated short beaked common dolphins. A couple of pods of Risso's dolphins, perhaps 35 or 40 total, were also observed. Four or five ocean sunfish were spotted, and one of them was a monster, perhaps 5 or 6 feet across.
Speaking of monsters, on our way back home we stumbled across a beautiful Mako Shark. It was a small 5 or 6 footer, and cruised just beneath the glassy surface in blue water.
We had some spectacular looks at some relatively unseen species today.
Please try the "Map This" button to see where our photographs were taken today.
Thank you!
Read MoreAlthough NOAA once again predicted doom and gloom for the western Channel, Captain Mat felt differently in his bones. We ran west in very calm seas and worked the island shelf break from western Santa Cruz Island to the western end of Santa Rosa Island in search of whales. The wind an seas finally came up out in the far west Channel, so we turned back east and ran a track closer to the islands, and quickly found ourselves back in glassy blue water and calm winds.
Along the route we closely watched about 2,300 long beaked common dolphins and nearly 1,000 of their cousins, the animated short beaked common dolphins. A couple of pods of Risso's dolphins, perhaps 35 or 40 total, were also observed. Four or five ocean sunfish were spotted, and one of them was a monster, perhaps 5 or 6 feet across.
Speaking of monsters, on our way back home we stumbled across a beautiful Mako Shark. It was a small 5 or 6 footer, and cruised just beneath the glassy surface in blue water.
We had some spectacular looks at some relatively unseen species today.
Please try the "Map This" button to see where our photographs were taken today.
Thank you!
A solo rafting California sea lion (Zalophus californianus).
Long beaked common dolphins (Delphinus capensis). Compare to the previous image of short beaked commons.
Humans get a great look at friendly long beaked common dolphins (Delphinus capensis).
