Article: Santa Barbara is the dreamiest of California places.

Byline: Tom Uhlenbrock

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. _ Four hours on a whale-watching boat had produced lovely views of the Channel Islands off Santa Barbara on the California coast but no whales.

"It's very rare that we see nothing _ maybe once a year," swore Hal Altman, the volunteer naturalist on board the Condor Express catamaran.

Whales were guaranteed, so they stamped my ticket for a free return cruise and I stomped off. Hah, I thought. Probably not a single whale anywhere around.

The newspaper delivered to my hotel room the next day told a different story. A 30-foot whale had breached in those same waters and came down hard on a ...

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