A tightly- packed social group of humpback whales plus dolphins.
- Bob Perry
- 2 hours ago
- 1 min read
Image: a friendly humpback imitates a humongous swordfish by swimming on its side near the Condor Express.
2026 04–29 SB Channel
A single 9A expedition traversed the channel and we came up with the following sightings: 50 common dolphins and 6 humpback whales. It was a blue sky, calm seas kind of a day… absolutely gorgeous.
South of Holly we encountered a small pod of common dolphins spread out over a wide area. Some of them took an interest in the boat and rode our bow wave as we motored along.
We turned S and headed for the buoy. Jackpot! There were six whales in the area. We were alerted to their presence by the fact that one of them was waving its long pec fin in the air and slapping it on the water occasionally. On the scene we found 5 whales in a tight group. Most were big adults and there was one calf. Quite a bit of socializing was taking place including animals being close proximity/touching, and swimming sideways (see today’s photo for an example). All had rather long, 10 to 12 minute, downtimes which limited our surface viewing.
You never know what mother nature has in store.
Bob Perry
