2020 06-16 SB Channel - East
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Captain Dave and his crew ran two whale watching excursions today, the first a 9am and the second at noon. Skies had a low, gray stratus layer all day. Seas started calm and glassy but soon became choppy on top of a west swell. I will call this the “Day of the Dolphins,” as we saw only common dolphins today. The exception being a nice gathering of 12 Pacific harbor seals on the harbor bait barge.
The first small pod of long-beaked common dolphins consisted of about 100 individuals and it located the Condor Express around 930am. This pod did quite a bit of upside-down swimming. There are two main reasons for upside-down swimming dolphins. They do this when they are mating and when they are feeding. Seas were very glassy during this sighting and provided excellent photographic conditions for capturing animals below the surface.
The morning featured a nice drive-by tour of offshore oil platform C, abbreviated “Charlie.” Numerous additional pods of long-beaks were seen, mostly numbering in the 200 – 500 range. On the afternoon trip, around 1245pm, there was a nursery pod full of moms and tiny calves. Lots of fun…and always a fan favorite. The afternoon also provided a nice pod of short-beaked common dolphins that were moving in a tight pod and only paid nominal attention to the boat
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Read MoreCaptain Dave and his crew ran two whale watching excursions today, the first a 9am and the second at noon. Skies had a low, gray stratus layer all day. Seas started calm and glassy but soon became choppy on top of a west swell. I will call this the “Day of the Dolphins,” as we saw only common dolphins today. The exception being a nice gathering of 12 Pacific harbor seals on the harbor bait barge.
The first small pod of long-beaked common dolphins consisted of about 100 individuals and it located the Condor Express around 930am. This pod did quite a bit of upside-down swimming. There are two main reasons for upside-down swimming dolphins. They do this when they are mating and when they are feeding. Seas were very glassy during this sighting and provided excellent photographic conditions for capturing animals below the surface.
The morning featured a nice drive-by tour of offshore oil platform C, abbreviated “Charlie.” Numerous additional pods of long-beaks were seen, mostly numbering in the 200 – 500 range. On the afternoon trip, around 1245pm, there was a nursery pod full of moms and tiny calves. Lots of fun…and always a fan favorite. The afternoon also provided a nice pod of short-beaked common dolphins that were moving in a tight pod and only paid nominal attention to the boat
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Delphinus capensis feeding on juv squid Doryteuthis opalescens 2020 06-16 SB Channel-b-004
DelphinuscapensisfeedingjuvsquidDoryteuthisopalescens2020Channel004
Delphinus capensis feeding on juv squid Doryteuthis opalescens 2020 06-16 SB Channel-b-008
DelphinuscapensisfeedingjuvsquidDoryteuthisopalescens2020Channel008
