A big birdnado zone south of Holly was productive.
- Bob Perry
- Aug 12
- 2 min read
2025 08–12 SB Channel
The sky today would’ve been clear except for a high stratus layer that was mixed with smoke from fires to the north of us. There was a moderate bump on the ocean, but not much wind. Captain Dave and the crew ran west to a hot spot that was about 4 miles south of platform Holly. Sightings: 100 California sea lions, 3500 common dolphins and 3 humpback whales.
We started watching a few dolphins when we were off of Goleta. But the big megapods were out on the hotspot mentioned above. All three whales were here plus birdnados and sea lions. The humpback whales consisted of two juveniles and one adult. One of the juveniles did a sideways lunge. (See today’s photograph for an example).
The single adult got friendly with the boat and we ended up having a 20 minute “Mugging Lite” experience. (The whale swam around all sides and underneath the Condor Express). It was very close and great to see, but kept a little space from the hull.
On the way home we stopped to retrieve a balloon from the ocean surface only to find that, in reality, it was an old, disinegrated garbage bag *
You never know what mother nature has in store.
Bob Perry
Note: lots of props to our crew today, Aspen and Camille. They worked the gaff and tried to retrieve the previously mentioned not-a-balloon garbage bag only to have it disintegrate right before their eyes. Everything, including strands of old rope, juice boxes, and potato chip bags were strewn all over the ocean when they old bag gave up. The crew worked to get all the pieces of the bag, and much of the trash that was unleashed.
