Explorer Issue

June 2003

Pharmacist and amateur photographer Robert Goodell was on Captain Don's Whale Watching Tour off Coal Point in the Santa Barbara Channel when he snapped this photo of a humpback whale broaching near Platform Holly. Humpbacks and Blue whales are prolific in the area during the summer months, feasting on the krill that thrive near the platforms. A series of articles notes how the industry tries to live as peacefully with activists as whales do with oil production.