2015 06-03 SB Channel
Just past Platform Alpha we found one slow moving humpback whale and about 50 long-beaked common dolphins. This assemblage was moving west and the whale was all business...no deep dives, no tail flukes, one spout at a time, and 4 or 5 minutes down. We watched for 20 minutes and then moved out towards Platform Habitat. Along the route to Habitat there was another pod of long-beaked common #dolphins numbering around 100.
1 mile north of Habitat we located a moveable feast. There were 6 humpback #whales in this spot, and around 2,500 common dolphins. The whales made long dives and had short surface times, but there were so many of them on all sides of the Condor Express, that there was plenty of entertainment/education going on. Among the recognizable humpback contingent we saw Scarlet again, and a mother whale with her calf. We also noted a single breach about ½- mile east of our hot spot.
The hot spot was dynamic and whales came and went while the whole amorphous blob moved west then north then east again. At least 2 more "new" humpbacks joined the club. During this phase of the excursion about 100 of the dolphins kicked it into high gear and ran west in a "stampede." By this time is was getting more sunny and a light breeze was starting up from the west.
The seabird species composition was different today. There were nearly zero brown pelicans even though the elegant terns were crashing on the dolphins and sooty shearwaters were there diving. A few gulls also looked around for easy pickin's. The magnitude of all this life, all around the boat, all day, was amazing.
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Two California sea lions interacting
Zalophus californianus 2015 06-03 SB Channel -014
A waterfall from a humpback whale tail
Megaptera novaeangliae 2015 06-03 SB Channel -036
Two California sea lions are seen socializing
Zalophus californianus 2015 06-03 SB Channel -030
Socializing California sea lions
Zalophus californianus 2015 06-03 SB Channel -015
An underwater California sea lion
Zalophus californianus 2015 06-03 SB Channel -c-016
Tubercles on the rostrum, and the blowhole splashguard, of a giant humpback whale
Megaptera novaeangliae 2015 06-03 SB Channel -051
California sea lion
Zalophus californianus 2015 06-03 SB Channel -c-008
Humpback whale tail
Megaptera novaeangliae 2015 06-03 SB Channel -f-013
Long-beaked common dolphin upside-down feeding. When hunting a single anchovy, dolphins often roll over, exposing their white bellies. This probably scares the anchovy and forces it up to the surface where it is trapped and an easier target for the predatory dolphin.
Delphinus capensis 2015 06-03 SB Channel -b-019
