4 different marine mammal species and 1 fish
- Bob Perry
- Dec 10, 2025
- 2 min read
Image: a high speed torpedo (a.k.a. 1 Dall’s porpoise) is shown slashing through the water leaving a characteristic “rooster tail” behind.
2025 12–10 SB Channel
Conditions were very “non-wintry today,” with blue skies and temperatures in the 80’s. Seas were calm with no wind. Sightings for the day included: 9 humpback whales (we closely watched 5), 15 Dall’s porpoise, 6 coastal bottlenose dolphins, 10 offshore bottlenose dolphins, and 1 blue shark. Captain Dave and the crew headed SE across the channel and did not find any marine life until we were S of the lanes. We observed more life right up against Santa Cruz Island.
Things got started right away when a small pod of coastal bottlenose dolphins came to the Condor Express near the Harbor entrance buoy. They surfed our bow, side, and stern waves. Everybody got great looks, and I’m sure they got good looks at us too!
No other sightings were made until we had transected the entire channel, and were just N of Chinese Harbor. Here we found a single humpback whale. As we began to get set up on this first whale, we noticed a cluster of spouts nearby, so we broke away to a spot just outside beautiful Potato Harbor, Santa Cruz Island. There were 3 whales here. It was a mother with her calf plus an escort. They were tucked in very close to the island in about 200 feet of water. It was an awesome sighting of humpbacks adjacent to the majestic island sea cliffs. After watching the whales for quite a while Dave took the boat into the harbor for a quick tour. Potato is one of the most picturesque natural anchorages on the island.
Near the entrance to Potato, we encountered a very small pod of offshore bottlenose dolphins. This sub-species tends to be larger and more animated than their coastal cousins. Their population is much larger since they are not threatened by coastal pollution and boat traffic either.
We pulled away from the island hoping to relocate the very first whale that we left behind. However, in its place, we found a group of five more humpback whales, and had time to closely watch two of them. They were fairly relaxed and visited the Condor Express several times.
At this point we had another quick visit with a species that we see mostly in the winter: the small, black-and-white and highly animated Dall’s porpoise. A part of at least 15 slashed the water around us and then quickly disappeared. (See today’s photo for an example).
On our way back to the Harbor, alert passengers on the bow were treated to a good look at a medium sized blue shark that was finning on the surface. It’s spooked as we went by, dove deep and was out of sight in an instant.
You never know what mother nature has in store.
Bob Perry
