A gorgeous day where we crossed the entire channel and found very friendly humpback whales near beautiful Santa Cruz Island.

A friendly visit by a humpback whale includes a nice spy hop which makes you wonder who’s watching who.

2026 05-06 SB Channel

It was positively idyllic, with sunny skies and a very light breeze that wafted across the water in places where it was not perfectly glassy. To enhance sightings, the water clarity was Santa Barbara Cobalt. Observations for the day included: 50 common dolphins and 4 humpback whales. Captain Eddy and the crew traverse the entire Channel and ended up close to this beautiful Santa Cruz Island

Throughout the day Capt. Eddy reported seeing pairs, trios, and quadpods of common dolphins. He even spun the boat in a circle at one point to get them to come over and surf our wake. There were no mega pods to be found.

After entering island waters, a few miles off beautiful Chinese Harbor, we turned W and moved parallel to the island. It was off Fry’s that we encountered a tight pack of 4 adult humpback whales. They immediately stopped what they were doing and came to the Condor Express and proceeded to mug us for over an hour. 

This encounter included many very close approaches along all sides including some sessions in our jet wash. There was trumpet vocalization and bubble blasting. At one point there was a spy hopping session that included all 4 whales simultaneously… I have personally never seen anything like it, but I refer you to today’s image or let my imagination go by manipulating one of my own pics.

The ocean surface remains full of purple sailor jellies (Velella velella), and little plankton-eating birds called red-necked phalaropes.

You never know what mother nature has in store.

Bob Perry

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