2015 05-22 SB Channel

Captain Dave took the Condor Express to The Flats, which are east of the oil platforms and offshore a ways. On the way we found one small humpback whale with white pectoral fins north of platform Hogan. Continuing east it was not long before we saw the one large hot spot of the trip which contained thousands of sooty shearwaters, hundreds of brown pelicans, many species of gulls, California sea lions, at least 1,000 long-beaked common dolphins, and 3 humpback whales. One of the whales was our friend "Scarlet" who we've been watching for a few years now and is easy to spot due to her propeller scar with associated globular masses of tissue. Sounds gross, but she is a very nice whale to watch. Today she got into the hot spot and vertically lunged on an anchovy school with the baleen visible inside her giant mouth.

After leaving Scarlet to her dining, we headed for Santa Cruz Island with good intentions, but plans were soon thwarted by the increasing winds and chop. Turning back to the northeast edge of The Flats, Dave located more activity. This time it was at least 6 more humpback #whales and about 350 short-beaked common #dolphins. A pair of whales started carrying on with repeated massive tail lobs and tail throws, some rolling upside down and waving long pectoral flukes in the air. This show continued for quite a while and everyone was enthralled.

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Humpback whale tail throw
Megaptera novaeagliae tail throw 2015 05-22 SB Channel-e-023
Megaptera novaeagliae tail throw 2015 Channel 023
An extremely friendly close approach by a humpback whale gives great looks to the fan club on board the Condor Express
Megaptera novaeagliae & passengers 2015 05-22 SB Channel-h-015
Megaptera novaeagliae passengers 2015 Channel 015
Humpback whale tail throw
Megaptera novaeagliae tail throw 2015 05-22 SB Channel-e-024
Megaptera novaeagliae tail throw 2015 Channel 024
A leaping long-beaked common dolphin
Delphinus capensis 2015 05-22 SB Channel-004
Delphinus capensis 2015 Channel 004
Brown pelican crash dive sequence. Imagine jumping off a high cliff and getting smashed in the face every time you wanted to take a bite of food.
Pelecanus occidentalis crash dive seq 2015 05-22 SB Channel-032
Pelecanus occidentalis crash dive seq 2015 Channel 032
Humpback whale pectoral fin - animal is on its side
Megaptera novaeagliae pectoral fin 2015 05-22 SB Channel-e-051
Megaptera novaeagliae pectoral fin 2015 Channel 051
Humpback tail flukes waterfall - reveals killer whale "rake" scars on the bottom
Megaptera novaeagliae tail flukes waterfall 2015 05-22 SB Channel-f-017
Megaptera novaeagliae tail flukes waterfall 2015 Channel 017
Tail flukes waterfall - humpback whale
Megaptera novaeagliae tail flukes waterfall 2015 05-22 SB Channel-e-073
Megaptera novaeagliae tail flukes waterfall 2015 Channel 073
Mega close-up look at the tail flukes of a humpback whale
Megaptera novaeagliae tail fluke 2015 05-22 SB Channel-e-077
Megaptera novaeagliae tail fluke 2015 Channel 077
Image 1 of 3 in a row: Scarlet the humpback whale lunge feeds on the surface and gets the birds all excited
Megaptera novaeagliae surface lunge feeding 2015 05-22 SB Channel-g-003
Megaptera novaeagliae surface lunge feeding 2015 Channel 003
Image 2 of 3 in a row: Scarlet the humpback whale lunge feeds on the surface and gets the birds all excited
Megaptera novaeagliae surface lunge feeding 2015 05-22 SB Channel-g-005
Megaptera novaeagliae surface lunge feeding 2015 Channel 005
Image 3 of 3 in a row: Scarlet the humpback whale lunge feeds on the surface and gets the birds all excited
Megaptera novaeagliae surface lunge feeding 2015 05-22 SB Channel-g-007
Megaptera novaeagliae surface lunge feeding 2015 Channel 007
Humpback whale tail throw
Megaptera novaeagliae tail throw 2015 05-22 SB Channel-e-016
Megaptera novaeagliae tail throw 2015 Channel 016
Two humpback whales begin a dive side-by-side
Megaptera novaeagliae TWO 2015 05-22 SB Channel-f-054
Megaptera novaeagliae TWO 2015 Channel 054
The propeller scars and bulbous masses from whence "Scarlet" got her name
Megaptera novaeangliae Scarlet CLOSE 2015 05-22 SB Channel-141
Megaptera novaeangliae Scarlet CLOSE 2015 Channel 141
What could be more fun than a sky full of brown pelicans coming at you?
Pelecanus occidentalis mass in flight close 2015 05-22 SB Channel-002
Pelecanus occidentalis mass flight close 2015 Channel 002
Young glaucous gull in flight
Larus hyperboreus in flight 2015 05-22 SB Channel-001
Larus hyperboreus flight 2015 Channel 001

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2015 05-22 SB Channel

Location of today's photographs