2018 09-24 SB Channel - West
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Skies were overcast in the morning, sunny later. Seas were mirror glass everywhere, then a little choppy to the far west. We had a load of hearty, sea faring folks from the Island Princess cruise ship that had anchored to visit Santa Barbara. Captain Tasha and her crew returned to the general hot spot areas of yesterday and the day prior only to not find a single whale. The trip featured 3 different species of dolphins and loads of great behaviors, so the fact that we did not find whales was not a big concern for me, speaking as a photographer. We closely watched 500 or so long-beaked common dolphins, 1000 short-beaked common dolphins, offshore bottlenose dolphins, and several dozen California sea lions.
Our course took us to the far west near Gaviota, east of Hondo, west of Holly. We continued on a southwesterly course until we reached The Lanes and were well south of Hondo. Tasha then turned east, putting the light chop and mild breeze behind us as we too the “long way” home to Santa Barbara. Several pods of about 100 long-beaked common dolphins were watched starting south of Arroyo Burro, and continuing up to Gaviota. They came to the boat and rode our bow, side and stern waves. Several cow-calf pairs were seen, but there was not much bait in the water so the wonderful feeding behavior of the past few days was not evident today.
On our southerly heading, past Hondo, a group of offshore bottlenose dolphins found us. They, too, rode our waves, but these larger animals are always quite acrobatic and, as they surfed, they frequently got airborne. (Their antics would be outdone later by the short-beaked commons).
We were on our way home and about 5 miles off Hope Ranch when we encountered a mega-pod of short-beaked commons. There were endless high-flying animals, tons of tail-slapping, and, most unusual of all, dozens and dozens of dolphins tail-walking. Some of the walks were across 50 feet of ocean or more. Both the breaching and the tail-walking were being undertaken by adults and juveniles alike. It was spectacular to see.
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Read MoreSkies were overcast in the morning, sunny later. Seas were mirror glass everywhere, then a little choppy to the far west. We had a load of hearty, sea faring folks from the Island Princess cruise ship that had anchored to visit Santa Barbara. Captain Tasha and her crew returned to the general hot spot areas of yesterday and the day prior only to not find a single whale. The trip featured 3 different species of dolphins and loads of great behaviors, so the fact that we did not find whales was not a big concern for me, speaking as a photographer. We closely watched 500 or so long-beaked common dolphins, 1000 short-beaked common dolphins, offshore bottlenose dolphins, and several dozen California sea lions.
Our course took us to the far west near Gaviota, east of Hondo, west of Holly. We continued on a southwesterly course until we reached The Lanes and were well south of Hondo. Tasha then turned east, putting the light chop and mild breeze behind us as we too the “long way” home to Santa Barbara. Several pods of about 100 long-beaked common dolphins were watched starting south of Arroyo Burro, and continuing up to Gaviota. They came to the boat and rode our bow, side and stern waves. Several cow-calf pairs were seen, but there was not much bait in the water so the wonderful feeding behavior of the past few days was not evident today.
On our southerly heading, past Hondo, a group of offshore bottlenose dolphins found us. They, too, rode our waves, but these larger animals are always quite acrobatic and, as they surfed, they frequently got airborne. (Their antics would be outdone later by the short-beaked commons).
We were on our way home and about 5 miles off Hope Ranch when we encountered a mega-pod of short-beaked commons. There were endless high-flying animals, tons of tail-slapping, and, most unusual of all, dozens and dozens of dolphins tail-walking. Some of the walks were across 50 feet of ocean or more. Both the breaching and the tail-walking were being undertaken by adults and juveniles alike. It was spectacular to see.
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