30 humpback whale sightings, two species of dolphins, and a gray whale
- Bob Perry
- 1 day ago
- 2 min read
2026 03–08 SB Channel
A pair of 2.5 hour excursions left the docks, one at 9 AM, the other 12 N. What a difference a day makes! Sea conditions were far improved over what we experienced the last couple of days. Skies were sunny. Seas were glassy during the morning excursion, and only a light breeze wafted through in the afternoon. There was no short interval bump today. Total sightings for the day included: 30 humpback whales (15 on each trip; we closely watched 14), 5 coastal bottlenose dolphins, 25 common dolphins, and 1 gray whale. All of the action took place within a 1 square mile area located about 7 miles S of UCSB.
We followed a small pod of coastal bottlenose dolphins as they swam into the East Beach Anchorage to get the morning trip started. Very nice looks were had before we moved out to the hotspot. We watched 8 different humpback whales closely with at least 7 more close by. They were spread out in small groups of 1, 2, or 3 at a time. We saw a little bit of rolling around and socializing. There were several close approaches to the boat and plenty of nice selfies were to be had. On the way home we slow down to watch a very small group of common dolphins off Ledbetter
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We found the same large group of humpbacks, at the same spot, on the afternoon adventure. There were some chin-slaps, and a monster, full-body breach took place about 10 yards off our bow (See today’s photo for an example).
During the trip back to the harbor we encountered a somewhat shy, small gray whale. It was heading Nbd, and did a bit of snorkeling. That, along with a very low blow of its spout, made it difficult to follow. The captain Eddy and the crew got the job done and placed a whale punctuation mark at the end of the trip. 🐋
You never know what mother nature has in store.
Bob Perry