23+ humpbacks in one hot spot.
- Bob Perry
- Aug 8
- 2 min read
2025 08–08 SB Channel
Skies were clear all day (for a change). Although it was glassy near the coast, a light breeze picked up offshore. The real story was the 4 to 5 foot sloppy wind chop that came down to us from the west, perhaps from nocturnal winds off shore. Captain Eddy and the crew ran a big figure 8 course: southwest to the farm, then directly west until 6 miles south of UCSB, mo9south and finally, heading north east to the Harbor. Sightings were phenomenal: 4000 common dolphins, 22 humpback whales (we closely watched 15), 100+ California sea lions and three Ocean sunfish (Mola mola).
Our first encounter with dolphins was just west of the farm. There were small groups between 20 and 30 animals each, scattered around the area. They all seem to be moving west. Eddy was running his southwest course at this point.
A few miles later, our eagle-eyed deck hand, Isabel, spotted a single juvenile whale in the distance. It was moving west, against the seas, but had long surface intervals. A breach in the distance led us to yet another whale. By the time we got near it, carefully negotiating the oncoming seas, the animal had stopped breaching and taken up lob-tailing. Many of its powerful tail-lobs were very close to the Condor Express.
After running due south for a while, we came into a massive oceanic hot spot. There were several large birdnados going off, which attracted several thousand dolphins, 100+ sea lions, and eventually 20 or more humpback whales. For 20 minutes straight we watched nonstop surface lunge-feeding by the gluttonous whales. Some of the lunges were straight up/vertical, and some were sideways. There were many more whales in the area than we could possibly have time to study individually.
Coincidentally, in the middle of all that hotspot action described above, as calm as can be, we watched 3 dinner plate-sized Ocean sunfish (Mola mola) “sunning” themselves on the surface.
You never know what mother nature has in store.
Bob Perry
Note: Conditions like we had today often challenge the crew as well as the passengers, but if you “hang in there,” the wildlife, in its own element, is quite a sight to see.
