Amazing looks at tough dolphins and humpbacks enjoying an otherwise very rough day in the Channel.
Image: an adult humpback whale breaches into the wind on an extremely rough day for humans.
2026 10–10 SB Channel
As Captain Dave told it, the conditions today were far worse than what NOAA forecast. It was cloudy all day, and very windy with lots of white caps and chop. In addition, there was a 6 foot short-interval swell that made it almost impossible to move the boat at any speed. Dave and the crew ran directly S to a point just inside the lanes. Total sighings for the day: 4 coastal bottlenose dolphins, 300 common dolphins, 3 humpback whales, and 1 ocean sunfish (Mola mola).
A small pod of coastal bottlenose dolphins greeted us as we tried to leave the Harbor and got our first taste of the wind and seas. We followed them for a while and got decent looks considering the conditions.
6 miles S of the Harbor we encountered a small group of common dolphins and watched them for a while. Since there were waves from every different direction, the dolphins were in their own element… plenty of surfing opportunities! They were loving it.
Soon thereafter, we saw a medium-sized, detached, floating, giant kelp paddy with an ocean sunfish (Mola mola) finding some shelter under it. These algae beds, along with the mucus that they naturally secrete, helped to dampen some of the chop on the surface.
Out of nowhere, the crew happened to observe a massive breach a couple of miles behind the Condor Express. (See today’s photo for an example). When we arrived on the scene it turned out to be three, large, adult humpback whales. They had extremely long dive times which, given the conditions, made it difficult to relocate them when they finally came up to breathe. They appeared to be in slow travel mode to the SE. On one occasion, perhaps it random, we had an individual come and make a close approach and everyone who was still on the deck got some great looks at this beast.
You never know what mother nature has in store.
Bob Perry
NOTE
Our whale tail experts Mark and Susanne were both on board today and were able to photograph and identify one of the three individuals we saw.
It’s designation is CRC-15114
It had been recorded 12 times since first observed in August 2009, near Santa Cruz, California (also its furthest point north). Happywhale.com for this individual shows mysterious numerous multi-year gaps between its sightings. It’s southernmost record comes from Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, Mexico in 2020.
