Humpback Whales
On June 15th 2003 I headed up to Santa Barbara to go Whale Watching on the Condor Express. Read the story first or click HERE to skip story and go straight to pictures of the Humpback Whales Friendly Approach.
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It was an AWESOME trip!! (except I did get a little green)
I went up to Santa Barbara and went out on the Condor Express. It is a great boat and was deliberately designed for Whale Watching. It has jet propulsion so there is NO blades or rudders or anything underneath the boat that can cause damage. It uses air to propel and steer etc.
I darn near missed the boat due to traffic (three hours) but did make it before they left. The seas were a little choppy so we hugged the coast up a ways before crossing the channel. The Captain said that the morning trip was very successful with lots of Humpbacks and Blue Whales, Common and White Sided Dolphin and even a SEA OTTER! I was SOOO hoping we would find that Sea Otter again (but we didn't).
We started across the channel. The whole way we had been seeing small Sunfish (Mola Mola I think?). The first one I got a good look at I actually thought was something dead floating in the water until they were pointed out to us. I don't think I got any pictures... no good ones anyway. We also saw a Jelly fish.
Then someone spotted a blow! As we approach we can tell it's a pair of Humpbacks! My FAVORITE! I have been wanting to see Humpbacks and this was my first time. They had went down while we were still approaching so the boat slowed down and tried to gauge where they might come back up. When they came up we found out we had passed them but not by much. They stopped the engines and we just floated. These were VERY FRIENDLY Humpbacks! They approached right along side of the boat and then went right around the front. Then they turned around and made another approach. They were SO CLOSE to us. The Whales were human watching! They made numerous passes around the boat. One side... then the other... around the front. It was awesome! We could sometimes see them turning underwater. I could even see their pectoral fins.... they were so long. The water wasn't very clear so I couldn't see them very well. You could really see how big these Whales are! At one point the Captain said one of them was touching the boat but it was on the other side and I didn't feel anything.
They finally bored of us and moved on. We followed for a little while back at the regular distance but then left them alone. They had already given us a wonderful show. I took nearly a roll of film just on them. They were so close that they were actually too close to fit in the picture most the time. I did snap quite a few shots and hope they will turn out. I missed a few really good opportunities but if you focus too much on pictures, you don't get to enjoy the Whales.
We headed of looking to see what else we could find. As we got closer to the island the water became much more choppy and the swells were much bigger. I was already feeling slightly sick by the way... even though I took Dramamine and ate well. I forgot to put my wrist bands on right away. Actually I felt most sick before and during the Humpback sighting. It eventually went away.
It wasn't very long before we spotted another blow. It appeared to be a Blue Whale spout and as we got closer we could tell that it was. A young one... not very big.... for a Blue Whale anyway. It had went down on it's deep dive. Since it seemed to be heading into the wind we decided to head off towards what we believed to be two or three more Blues. While they were down and we were still heading toward them we spotted a couple more Humpbacks! We watched them for a while then turned back to find the Blues.
We caught up to them just as they were going down again. But they left something for us.... Blue Whale poop! Yes ladies and gentleman we got to see Blue Whale poop. It is orangish-red in case you were wondering....LOL. Actually maybe we found this before the Humpbacks. I don't really remember for sure now.
We found them again and watched them for a while. There were two, possibly a cow and a large calf but we weren't sure. The seas were very choppy so viewing was not as good and I don't think I will get any good pictures of them but we'll see. But it was still a wonderful sight.
All around in the distance there were different blows. The area was very active with Whales. We also saw a Harbor Seal way out there. Well, the people on that side of the boat did. We saw a few Sealions throughout and of course the standard Sealions on the buoy heading out of the harbor.
We headed back hoping to come across some Dolphin but didn't find any. It was a very successful Whale trip, especially due to the friendly Humpbacks. Now I can add Humpbacks to my list! :-)
I highly recommend the Condor Cruises!
From www.cetacea.org
View photos from trip in sequence as taken ~~
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