7 humpbacks, 3000 dolphins

Image:  a humpback whale does some surface lunge-feeding right next to the Condor Express. The baleen, used to strain out the food, can be seen attached to the upper jaw.

2026 06-13 SB Channel

The summer solstice is just 1 week away, but you needed a jacket today due to the thick, gray, overcast sky. The ocean surface was flat with no wind. Captain Dave and the crew ran a short distance SE and ended up between platform Habitat and the Santa Barbara rigs. Sightings included: 3000 common dolphins and 7 humpback whales (we watched 4 of them closely).

On our approach to platform C, and before Dave gave his interpretive talk, our sightings got kicked off by a small handful of dolphins. As we left C astern we found much larger pods. Some were just a couple of dozen individuals, others in the hundreds. This pattern continued all day.

Our sharp-eyed deckhand, Benson, spotted the first whale in the distance. Before we could get to it, we found ourselves in an area with abundant but short-lived birdnados. In addition to all of the birds, the dolphins were feeding here. We got set up on a single juvenile humpback. It appeared to be feeding sub-surface, and did a lot of moving around. A new, distant whale was attracted to all the action and joined the juvenile to make a feeding partnership that lasted over 1 hour before they went their separate ways.

The duo did quite a bit of surface lunge-feeding. That included sideways, as well as vertical, lunges to capture schools of northern anchovies. There were a couple of lunges right next to the Condor Express, which probably happened totally at random as the hungry whales lost track of where the boat was. (See today’s photo for an example). It was a spectacular moment for whale fan club members.

2 miles S, there was an additional pair of adult humpback whales.  We saw 2 individuals in the binocular distance that we did not have time to get set up on.

You never know what mother nature has in store.

Bob Perry

condorexpressphotos.com

NOTE: whale tail ambassador Mark O’Brien was on board today and had already identified 2 of the humpback whales we saw using his photographic skills alongside the database happywhale.com

HW-MN0503814

Has been recorded 7 times before today. The first record was from June 2025 and it was submitted by our local CINC PID volunteer Austin. It is also the northernmost record of this whale’s movement. It has been recorded as far south as San Clemente California. The most recent record prior to today was from November 2025.

CRC-23138

Has 11 records in happywhale.com and the first was May 2025 in the Santa Barbara channel. It’s last record prior to today was from May 2026. The furthest south was a record from San Diego California. The tale of this whale appears to have a bent, slightly damaged, right fluke tip. (You can take a look at one of my photographs in the database),