2020 06-10 SB Channel
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A single 2 ½ hour trip left the dock at noon today under spectacular blue and sunny skies. There was a very light breeze at the start, but things glassed-off quickly. Sightings included over 1500 long-beaked common dolphins and 7 nasty Mylar balloons (captured by crew).
Ten minutes out from Santa Barbara the first pod of around 700 individual common dolphins located the Condor Express. There was a lot of surface, upside-down. slash-feeding going on and numerous little calves were present in the group. Later (around 100pm) we’d encounter a second pod of about the same size. This group was busy surfing our wake and leaping over the on-coming waves. Other, smaller, scattered groups were seen during the trip.
Far too may Mylar balloons were retrieved from the ocean surface by the crew today. Most were fresh and contained “Happy Graduation” messages. It is a shame that these graduates, who faced many obstacles due to the COVID-19 virus, had to “celebrate” in a manner that has bee proven to kill marine animals.
We passed close by Platform Habitat and some nice photos were taken. A few minutes later I shot part of the “Carpinteria rig line” with Platforms C, B, A and Hillhouse together and all but C had gas burn-off flames.
As a final note, numerous large surface bait balls were seen today. A few were among the feeding dolphins, and many more were all alone. This might portend further dolphin sightings and perhaps even attract some future humpbacks.
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Read MoreA single 2 ½ hour trip left the dock at noon today under spectacular blue and sunny skies. There was a very light breeze at the start, but things glassed-off quickly. Sightings included over 1500 long-beaked common dolphins and 7 nasty Mylar balloons (captured by crew).
Ten minutes out from Santa Barbara the first pod of around 700 individual common dolphins located the Condor Express. There was a lot of surface, upside-down. slash-feeding going on and numerous little calves were present in the group. Later (around 100pm) we’d encounter a second pod of about the same size. This group was busy surfing our wake and leaping over the on-coming waves. Other, smaller, scattered groups were seen during the trip.
Far too may Mylar balloons were retrieved from the ocean surface by the crew today. Most were fresh and contained “Happy Graduation” messages. It is a shame that these graduates, who faced many obstacles due to the COVID-19 virus, had to “celebrate” in a manner that has bee proven to kill marine animals.
We passed close by Platform Habitat and some nice photos were taken. A few minutes later I shot part of the “Carpinteria rig line” with Platforms C, B, A and Hillhouse together and all but C had gas burn-off flames.
As a final note, numerous large surface bait balls were seen today. A few were among the feeding dolphins, and many more were all alone. This might portend further dolphin sightings and perhaps even attract some future humpbacks.
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