2017 05-06 SB Coast
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Moderate seas caused by high winds from an approaching storm made the first part of our 9 am excursion a wild ride. It was “Boston Whaler Rendezvous Day”, and a squadron of about a dozen Boston Whalers followed us around. Once Captain Dave had the Condor Express safely inside the lee of Campus Point, and inside Goleta Bay, the ocean surface became very calm. But alas, the Boston Whaler squadron had long ago turned back to the calm waters of Santa Barbara Harbor. We scoured the kelp beds and nearshore environment for migrating mother gray whales and calves, also hoping for a chance encounter with some bottlenose dolphins. No luck.
Dave turned and pointed the boat offshore (to the southeast). The heavy chop and rough seas were now pushing us to the southeast. Soon we encountered several hot spots with cormorants, brown pelicans, elegant terns, western gulls and other active sea birds. These were spots of northern anchovies and the long-beaked common dolphins and the California sea lions were feeding alongside the birds. 400 or so dolphins were in our area. Later, in the East Beach anchorage, a large mooring was over-flowing with sea lions and had a waiting line of several dozen milling around.
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Read MoreModerate seas caused by high winds from an approaching storm made the first part of our 9 am excursion a wild ride. It was “Boston Whaler Rendezvous Day”, and a squadron of about a dozen Boston Whalers followed us around. Once Captain Dave had the Condor Express safely inside the lee of Campus Point, and inside Goleta Bay, the ocean surface became very calm. But alas, the Boston Whaler squadron had long ago turned back to the calm waters of Santa Barbara Harbor. We scoured the kelp beds and nearshore environment for migrating mother gray whales and calves, also hoping for a chance encounter with some bottlenose dolphins. No luck.
Dave turned and pointed the boat offshore (to the southeast). The heavy chop and rough seas were now pushing us to the southeast. Soon we encountered several hot spots with cormorants, brown pelicans, elegant terns, western gulls and other active sea birds. These were spots of northern anchovies and the long-beaked common dolphins and the California sea lions were feeding alongside the birds. 400 or so dolphins were in our area. Later, in the East Beach anchorage, a large mooring was over-flowing with sea lions and had a waiting line of several dozen milling around.
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