Condor Express Whale Watching

Condor Express Whale Watching Condor Express in Santa Barbara has been creating amazing whale watching experiences since 1979 🐋 Come aboard - Your Adventure Awaits!
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The Santa Barbara Channel offers some of the finest whale and dolphin watching in the world. View gray, humpback and blue whales, dolphins, orcas, seals and sea lions along the coast and at the Channel Islands. Gray whales pass along the cost during their annual migration every winter and spring. Friendly humpback and gigantic blue whales enter our Santa Barbara Channel to feed from March through

fall. The channel is home to over 27 species of whales and dolphins, six types of seals and sea lions, and countless seabirds and fish throughout the year. The Condor Express is an eco-friendly, 75’, quad-jet catamaran that has an extremely stable and comfortable ride. It carries up to 127 passengers. This state-of-the-art vessel uses water jet propulsion and was specially designed for allowing ocean mammals to visit up close without endangering them with a spinning propeller. Because of it’s design and speed, we get to the wildlife quickly, sit quietly, and allow whales and other sea life to visit with us.

The Condor Express has been high and dry for almost three weeks, but don't worry, we haven't been twiddling our thumbs! ...
01/20/2025

The Condor Express has been high and dry for almost three weeks, but don't worry, we haven't been twiddling our thumbs! Our crew has been hard at work, scrubbing and painting and generally making our boat look like new again.

Big shoutout to our team for their hard work. They're itching to get back on the water and share the magic of the Santa Barbara Channel Whale Heritage Area with you all 🩵🐋

01/01/2025

HAPPY NEW YEAR from our team here at SBCWHA! 🐋

2024 was our first full year as a designated whale heritage area // //

We are so proud of all we’ve accomplished this year 👏🏻 From educational opportunities in classrooms, to hosted whale events learning from world class whale researchers, we’ve had a whale of a time here in the Santa Barbara Channel. One of our main objectives this year is to get school groups out to with us! There’s plenty of local school groups that have never even SEEN THE OCEAN, let alone the gentle giants that call it home. Stay tuned for all of our upcoming programs and activities coming in 2025 by subscribing to our News Letter using the link in our bio! 🫶🏻

Photo by aboard

12/30/2024

Last month, Santa Barbara Channel held a ‘Whale of a Celebration’ – a weekend of festivities to celebrate their first year of being designated as a Whale Heritage Area! 🐳🎊

The event was opened with a blessing by Chumash elder Julie Tumamait Stenslie, followed by a cocktail reception and whale-themed film festival, featuring local filmmakers Rick Rosenthal and Adam Ernster.

The celebration also included a programme of educational talks by marine scientists, including the Whale Heritage Area’s Co-Director Holly Lohuis, as well as representatives from local marine conservation initiatives.

Hosting the event was Hiroko Benko, Co-Director of the Whale Heritage Area and owner of Condor Express Whale Watching, who welcomed guests aboard for a special trip as part of the celebration. A humpback whale, known by researchers as CRC- 12483, joined the festivities and treated onlookers to a display of tail flukes and breaching (beautifully captured in this photo by Adam Ernster Photography)!

Congratulations to Santa Barbara Channel Whale Heritage Area for a ‘fintastic’ first year! 🐋 We can’t wait to see what the SBCWHA community achieves next!

https://www.montecitojournal.net/2024/12/10/celebrating-the-1st-anniversary-of-the-sb-channel-local-whale-heritage-area/

It was lumpy and bumpy but by the time the sun broke through the fog we found a mini honey hole 🐋
12/29/2024

It was lumpy and bumpy but by the time the sun broke through the fog we found a mini honey hole 🐋

Image: A couple of humpback whales are seen heading into heavy seas in the Santa Barbara Channel.2024 12–28 SB Channel Today was our last trip of the year. We will be doing our biannual haul-out for maintenance and inspection during January and half of February.Today, Captain Eddy and the crew rep...

Calm seas, blue skies, & a blue shark 🩵🩵🩵Along with a handful of other things we saw! Find out more in the blog 🥰
12/22/2024

Calm seas, blue skies, & a blue shark 🩵🩵🩵
Along with a handful of other things we saw! Find out more in the blog 🥰

Image: a blue shark takes a look at the Condor Express. 2024 12–21 SB Channel Captain Danny and the crew reported excellent conditions in The Channel today for locating and watching wildlife. Seas were glassy and skies were sunny all day. Sightings included: 2 blue sharks, 50 California sea lions,...

12/21/2024

Beautiful day out in the Santa Barbara Channel Whale Heritage Area! Our awesome crew found 5 Humpback Whales & 15 Dall’s Porpoises 🩵🩵

12/19/2024

There’s been reports of Orcas in the Santa Barbara Channel Whale Heritage Area! This seems to be a great time of year to find this whales in our channel! Who knows what the weekend will bring 🤷🏼‍♀️ but we will keep our fingers & toes crossed!

Book tickets now at www.condorexpress.com 🐋🩵❄️

Slight drizzle and calm seas! 🌊💦
12/15/2024

Slight drizzle and calm seas! 🌊💦

Image: A humpback whale is shown in calm seas with light ripples in the Santa Barbara Channel.2024 12–14 SB Channel Captain Eddy and the crew stayed on the north side of The Lanes today. Seas were calm, mostly glassy. Skies, on the other hand, were cloudy and we experienced both drizzle and light ...

Catch up with the condor and read about what we saw today 👀
12/14/2024

Catch up with the condor and read about what we saw today 👀

Image: a BS2 birdnado on a hotspot that includes common dolphins and California sea lions in the Santa Barbara Channel.2024 12-13 SB Channel It was a nice winter Friday the 13th day in The Channel. Skies were partly cloudy and there was no wind. A residual bump from rough weather overnight came at u...

Thank you Montecito Journal for the article 🩵🐋
12/12/2024

Thank you Montecito Journal for the article 🩵🐋

A Whale of a Weekend celebrating the first anniversary of the Santa Barbara Channel Whale Heritage Area (SBCWHA), a nonprofit organization, was launched the evening of Friday, November 22nd, at the luxurious Ritz Carlton Bacara.

Some courtship behaviors 😘🐋
12/08/2024

Some courtship behaviors 😘🐋

Image: A surface lunge-feeding humpback whale in the Santa Barbara Channel. 2024 12–07 SB Channel The Condor Express traveled southwest, past The Lanes, and ended up in a hotspot west of where we operated yesterday. The hot spot today was near Carrington Point, Santa Rosa Island. Skies were clear ...

More calm seas making it dreamy for wildlife sightings 🐋👌🏼
12/07/2024

More calm seas making it dreamy for wildlife sightings 🐋👌🏼

Image: Condor Express tracks today. Red and orange spots = whales! 2024 12-06 SB Channel After crossing the entire Channel through dense, zero-visibility fog, Captain Dave reported ideal sunny and glassy conditions south of The Lanes. (See today’s image). Sightings for the day included: 8 humpback...

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301 W Cabrillo Boulevard
Santa Barbara, CA
93101

Opening Hours

Monday 7:30am - 6pm
Tuesday 7:30am - 6pm
Wednesday 7:30am - 6pm
Thursday 7:30am - 6pm
Friday 7:30am - 6pm
Saturday 7am - 6pm
Sunday 7am - 6pm

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Beautiful day out in the Santa Barbara Channel Whale Heritage Area! Our awesome crew found 5 Humpback Whales & 15 Dall’s Porpoises 🩵🩵

Serenaded at Sunset! The Annual Broadway Cruise was an incredible evening listening to Brain & Deborah sing classic broadway songs while soaking in the beautiful Santa Barbara coastline with a full moon rising! Thank you to all those that joined us! 🎥: Benson Schade

Friendly Mola Mola
Friendly Mola Mola

Now that’s a friendly & HUGE Mola Mola 😱

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About Condor Express Whale Watching

The Santa Barbara Channel offers some of the finest whale and dolphin watching in the world. View gray, humpback and blue whales, dolphins, orcas, seals and sea lions along the coast and at the Channel Islands. Gray whales pass along the coastline during their annual migration every winter and spring. Friendly humpback and gigantic blue whales enter our Santa Barbara Channel to feed from May through fall. The channel is home to over 27 species of whales and dolphins, six types of seals and sea lions, and countless seabirds and fish throughout the year. Come aboard - your adventure awaits! The Condor Express is an eco-friendly, 75’, quad-jet catamaran that has an extremely stable and comfortable ride. It carries up to 127 passengers. This state-of-the-art vessel uses water jet propulsion and was specially designed for allowing ocean mammals to visit up close without endangering them with a spinning propeller. Because of its design and speed, we get to the wildlife quickly, sit quietly, and allow whales and other sea life to safely visit with us.