2018 05-12 SB Coast
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Captain Tasha and the crew of the Condor Express ran three whale-watching excursions today. We were on board for the first two trips: 9 am and 12 noon. There was light rain and drizzle in the morning driving down the 101, but it stopped by the time we reached the Santa Barbara Harbor parking lot. The morning trip was mostly cloudy with little sunny “sucker hole” patches. The clouds cleared out during the noon trip, the wind died down and it was glassy, sunny and warm.
In the morning we could see dolphins at the harbor entrance while we were still docked and loading passengers. They had moved into the East Beach anchorage area by the time we departed the harbor and paid our customary visit to the sea lions. The dolphins in the anchorage, and more we’d see later in the trip, were all spread out in feeding patches. Miles of dolphins were to be seen. Upside down chasing of anchovies took place here and there. The morning herd was at least 500 strong, and the late morning pod had about 200 individuals in it. Besides feeding, the dolphins did find the Condor Express and rode our bow, side and stern waves.
Tasha steered the boat eastward on the noon trip. We passed through the anchorage, past Summerland, and past Carpinteria too before heading south and out beyond the oil rigs. There were no whales or dolphins. These are the final few days of the gray whale cow-calf migration north, so not seeing any today was not entirely unexpected.
On the subject of seeing the unexpected, I spotted a nice 4-foot blue shark out of the corner of my eyes and Tasha turned the boat so we could drift over to it slowly. It was a very cooperative shark and we had lots of quality, close-up time with tons of spectacular looks. After the shark encounter we continued our path to the northwest for a while until, again, something caught my peripheral vision. It was an ocean sunfish or Mola mola. The beast was the largest one I can remember seeing and was in the 8 to 10 foot diameter range. There were also purple jellies, Chrysaora colorata, in the area…food for the Mola mola.
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Read MoreCaptain Tasha and the crew of the Condor Express ran three whale-watching excursions today. We were on board for the first two trips: 9 am and 12 noon. There was light rain and drizzle in the morning driving down the 101, but it stopped by the time we reached the Santa Barbara Harbor parking lot. The morning trip was mostly cloudy with little sunny “sucker hole” patches. The clouds cleared out during the noon trip, the wind died down and it was glassy, sunny and warm.
In the morning we could see dolphins at the harbor entrance while we were still docked and loading passengers. They had moved into the East Beach anchorage area by the time we departed the harbor and paid our customary visit to the sea lions. The dolphins in the anchorage, and more we’d see later in the trip, were all spread out in feeding patches. Miles of dolphins were to be seen. Upside down chasing of anchovies took place here and there. The morning herd was at least 500 strong, and the late morning pod had about 200 individuals in it. Besides feeding, the dolphins did find the Condor Express and rode our bow, side and stern waves.
Tasha steered the boat eastward on the noon trip. We passed through the anchorage, past Summerland, and past Carpinteria too before heading south and out beyond the oil rigs. There were no whales or dolphins. These are the final few days of the gray whale cow-calf migration north, so not seeing any today was not entirely unexpected.
On the subject of seeing the unexpected, I spotted a nice 4-foot blue shark out of the corner of my eyes and Tasha turned the boat so we could drift over to it slowly. It was a very cooperative shark and we had lots of quality, close-up time with tons of spectacular looks. After the shark encounter we continued our path to the northwest for a while until, again, something caught my peripheral vision. It was an ocean sunfish or Mola mola. The beast was the largest one I can remember seeing and was in the 8 to 10 foot diameter range. There were also purple jellies, Chrysaora colorata, in the area…food for the Mola mola.
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Profile - young California sea lion.
Zalophus californianus 2018 05-12 SB Coast--034
Two brown pelicans in the kelp canopy.
Pelecanus occidentalis sitting on Macrocystis pyrifera canopy 2018 05-12 SB Coast--009
PelecanusoccidentalissittingMacrocystispyriferacanopy2018Coast009
