A really nice day was punctuated by a bunch of humpback whales and a couple of them that ran amok.
- Bob Perry
- 3 minutes ago
- 2 min read
Image: a wild and crazy humpback whale breached very close to the Condor Express.
2026 07–16 SB Channel
We ran S today and ended up about 9 miles offshore. There was a beautiful sunny sky and a very light breeze in the afternoon. Water clarity remains quite good. Total sightings: 1000 common dolphins and seven humpback whales (closely watched 4).
The first group of dolphins located the Condor Express about six Miles S. They were mostly milling around and there were new calves in the group. Captain Eddy and the crew ran a few miles further S.
There was a good number of spouts around the zone today. We got great looks at at least four of these whales. Toward sub- adult juveniles. One of them took a genuine interest in the boat and made several close passes. At one point it was right next to our port quarter and it’s spout spray got a few people damp. It’s spout it twice while it was right next to our hull, then, out of nowhere, the beast launched itself into two back-to-back monster breaches. This happened so close that the people standing in that area had to look up in the air to see the whale coming down. (See today's photo for an example).
This initiated a session of high activity that included several aggressive tail throws, a few light tail slaps, some pectoral slaps and a little bit of trumpet vocalization. One of the other whales joined in so we were watching both of them doing tail throws simultaneously. That is something we do not see every day!
Eddy took the boat E a little bit before heading home and encountered another small group of dolphins.
You never know what mother nature has in store.
Bob Perry
NOTE:
Our distinguished guest and avid whale fluke photographer and identifier, Susanne, was on board and able to, on the spot, identify 2 of the whales:
CRC-23831, and
CRC-22597
You can find out more information about them using happywhale.com … in fact you could submit your own whale tail photographs and become a citizen scientist like Susanne.
Thanks Susanne!
