After the storms and winds, loads of humpbacks and dolphins today
- Bob Perry
- 4 hours ago
- 2 min read
Image: a coastal bottlenose dolphin was photographed inside Santa Barbara Harbor.
2025 11–22 SB Channel
Captain Eddy and the crew ran S and ended up in the middle of the lanes. Skies were mostly sunny. There was a very light breeze in the morning which died down to create glassy conditions in the afternoon. A very long period swell rolled through the channel and was hardly noticed by anyone. Sightings for the day: 22 humpback whales (we closely watched 12), 3000 common dolphins, 25 California sea lions and 6 coastal bottlenose dolphins.
About 5 miles S of the harbor, where the kelp farm used to be, we watched our first humpback whale. It was a solo juvenile traveling E in a zigzag pattern. Two of our whale tail ID experts, Mark and Susanne, we’re both out today. It turns out that this whale had not been seen (recorded) before, according to the www.happywhale.com database.
After moving a lot further offshore an, just north of the lanes, we found another humpback. This was a large adult. We also started to see an abundance of common dolphins at this spot. These dolphins were seen thereafter throughout the trip. It is always fun to watch them ride our bow, side, and stern waves.
Once we reached the separation zone, between the northbound and the southbound lane, there was a honey hole with at least 20 additional whales all around us. We moved from group to group. Several whales made close passes by the Condor Express, but did not stop to mug. There was a nice tail throw in the distance seen by most everybody.
Due to the recent offshore winds and storms, we found and retrieved 4 floating, deflated, Mylar balloons from the ocean surface. For a period of time it went like this: watch a whale, move, pick up a balloon, watch another whale, move, pick up another balloon, etc. Towards the end of our session, and right before we left to head home, there was a cow-calf pair of humpback whales. The little calf stayed close to mom, and moved back-and-forth underneath her several times. Another whale expert was on board today, our friend Alisa, who strongly suspected this was nursing behavior.
Our last sighting of the day occurred when we were entering the mouth of Santa Barbara Harbor and heading to the dock. We found a small pot of six coastal bottlenose dolphins. It is not especially common to see them inside the harbor! (See photograph above, taken from a previous occasion inside the harbor).
You never know what mother nature has in store.
Bob Perry
