A bright and beautiful day would unfold ahead of us as we left the harbor.
Not 2 minutes out of the harbor and we were already on a juvenile northbound gray whale. We got a few good looks at our first northbounder of the year, but these whales can get a bit shy in front of the harbor with so much boat traffic going in and out. Rather than add to the attention this solo whale was getting, we decided to shoot offshore for greener (or bluer) pastures.
We headed west along one of our favorite feeding drop-offs until our crew spotted some breaching whales in the distance! Arriving on scene a few miles off UCSB, we spent time with 12+ humpback whales. Ranging from mothers and calves to full-grown adults it was a spectacular sight as this is our first day of double-digit humpback numbers for 2024! We watched a group feeding subsurface with about 200 common dolphins in our coastal waters before heading offshore looking for blubber. We caught up with a pair of presumed males following a cow/ calf pair. The whales were rolling around and jockeying for position on the female, a behavior we typically see in the late fall. early winter, but have been seeing a lot so far this spring.
We enjoyed a beautiful few hours with the whales before heading back to the dock in Santa Barbara.
Happy Whaling,
The SBWW Crew
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