2015 07-07 SB Channel
Not too far out from Santa Barbara Harbor ol' eagle-eyes Augie spotted a nice ocean sunfish (Mola mola) which we circled around once before it flipped its dorsal and caudal fins and boogied on. A few minutes later we were about a mile west of Habitat and the mammals sightings got fired-up with one nice Minke whale, 4 humpback whales (more in the distance) and at least 500 long-beaked common dolphins. (We truly saw #dolphins all day and everywhere we roamed).
After a nice session with all the cetaceans described above we moved along the southern edge of The Flats because we found a lot of life in there yesterday. It continued to be productive with sightings of another Minke whale, and easily 500 more dolphins. On our return trip through this same area, however, we found 4 more humpback whales along with the dolphins.
Our ultimate goal was to go to the far eastern Santa Barbara Channel about 5 miles south of the City of Ventura and scout the cetacean situation. Here we had the good fortune to find that the light breeze that blew to the west was completely absent and the water was mirror glass. 6 more humpback whales, including a mother with her calf (traveling with a third #whale, a large female), and another 200 dolphins were watched in this area.
Around 100pm we headed further south to scout the commercial shipping lanes off of the eastern end of Santa Cruz Island and located 3 more humpback whales off Cavern Point but in the lanes. The humpbacks we saw on the way home were described above .
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Read MoreAfter a nice session with all the cetaceans described above we moved along the southern edge of The Flats because we found a lot of life in there yesterday. It continued to be productive with sightings of another Minke whale, and easily 500 more dolphins. On our return trip through this same area, however, we found 4 more humpback whales along with the dolphins.
Our ultimate goal was to go to the far eastern Santa Barbara Channel about 5 miles south of the City of Ventura and scout the cetacean situation. Here we had the good fortune to find that the light breeze that blew to the west was completely absent and the water was mirror glass. 6 more humpback whales, including a mother with her calf (traveling with a third #whale, a large female), and another 200 dolphins were watched in this area.
Around 100pm we headed further south to scout the commercial shipping lanes off of the eastern end of Santa Cruz Island and located 3 more humpback whales off Cavern Point but in the lanes. The humpbacks we saw on the way home were described above .
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The little humpback whale calf lifts its knobby head to look around.
Megaptera novaeangliae 2015 07-07 SB Channel-z-070
The strong spout from a big humpback whale.
Megaptera novaeangliae 2015 07-07 SB Channel-006
image 1 of 3: the huge tail flukes of a humpback whale.
Megaptera novaeangliae 2015 07-07 SB Channel-042
image 2 of 3: the huge tail flukes of a humpback whale.
Megaptera novaeangliae 2015 07-07 SB Channel-043
image 3 of 3: the huge tail flukes of a humpback whale.
Megaptera novaeangliae 2015 07-07 SB Channel-z-013
