Skies were sunny and a light breeze rolled through the channel. Similar to yesterday, a single major feeding spot sat in the middle of the channel. Our first encounter was with a giant spread out group of 1,000 common dolphins. Every which way we looked there were dolphins for miles. We soon met up with ~6 humpback whales and watched as they made close passes by the boat and put up their mighty tail flukes. A mid day visit to painted cave (passing 3/4 whales on the way), was a beautiful way to spend the middle part of our trip. On the way home we enjoyed another visit in a huge feeding frenzy. 8+ whales were in this group, lungefeeding, tail slapping, breaching, and socializing! In the middle of the group, a familiar face (or tail), "Black rakes" showed up. The 2014 calf to another Santa Barbara local "Chompers," Black rakes has been a regular in the channel for many years, although this was our first sighting of him this year!
Comments