An adventure to the far eastern Channel hits the jackpot.
- Bob Perry
- Sep 20
- 2 min read
2025 09–20 SB Channel
There wasn’t much sun. The sea surface was rippled. A small bump rolled through from the west. Totals for the trip: 20 humpback whales (we watched 11), 5000 common dolphins, 35 California sea lions and 1 Minke whale.
Our trip today took us S between the kelp farm and the rigs, then turned to SW until we ended up at platform Gilda where all the action was. The first two whales were spotted just 2 miles from the rigs. They were adults and appeared to be feeding subsurface. The pair separated and one of them randomly popped up right next to the boat and everyone got a good, close, quick look.
About halfway to Gilda, we watched two more adult whales. There was plenty of action right next to the platform, so we headed there directly. We saw a few scattered and spread out dolphins and one whale that was so close it was practically rubbing it’s body up against the pilings of the platform. Captain Dave took advantage of our location to do a little presentation on the PA about the history of oil exploration and the current status of rigs in the Channel. A raft of approximately 35 sea lions were floating nearby.
As we continued just a short distance southeast of Gilda, we got into our first megapod of dolphins. They were very active, and we saw lots of aerial acrobatics. There was a mother humpback with her calf, and the calf rolled around next to her a couple of times. (See today’s photograph for an example of a mother with her calf).
On the way home we drove slowly past four more humpbacks. One of them randomly popped up to do some breathing. It surprised everyone in a good way. Likewise we saw a single Minke whale for one of its breathing cycles as we kept on track for the Harbor.
You never know what mother nature has in store.
Bob Perry
