A dolphin stampede, breaching, socializing and lob-tailing plus whales have fun with 2 sea lions.
- Bob Perry
- Jun 15
- 2 min read
2025 06–15 SB Channel
We had clear skies for the first time in several days. They were clear because there had been a bit of a breeze near shore and a more offshore. The surface was a moderately bumpy. Sightings for the day included: 1000+ common dolphins, 7 humpback whales and 2 (very active) California sea lions. The crew picked up one floating, deteriorating, Mylar balloon from the ocean surface.
Just a few miles south of The Harbor we encountered a spread out group of at least 300 common dolphins. Our first whale was also found here. This adult whale mimicked some of the behaviors we’ve seen in the last couple of days: traveling random long distances underwater thus making it hard to estimate where it would surface again.
Our next stop was near The Buoy. We found 3 whales, a pair plus one individual. The trio was socializing/interacting with 2 gregarious California sea lions. The whales spyhopped to look at the sea lions, and rolled on one side. There was also some grunting and trumpeting in reaction to the pinnipeds. Great to see this interspecies communication and fun!
A breaching whale less than a half a mile away caught our interest and we headed over in that direction. When we got there, the breaching had turned into lobtailing. Soon a second whale came to join the first. The two socialized a bit with some rolling around, etc.
Captain Dave moved the boat to the east to take a look at a pod of at least 600 dolphins. They were moving fast already but then kicked it up a notch and went into full stampede mode. Breathtaking. We saw another whale breaching in the distance.
You never know what Mother Nature has in store.
Bob Perry
