At least 5000 dolphins and two nice humpback whales.

Image: this is one of the last stages in a complicated humpback feeding process known as sideways lunge feeding. You are looking at the left side of the whale. The tail is to the right, the head is to the left… In fact if you look close you can see the eyeball. The pec fin is in the middle. Water is now exiting the mouth (while the food items are retained inside by the baleen).

2026 06–05 SB Channel

Captain Dave reports good sea conditions again today. There was a high, thin stratus layer, very small swell, and a light breeze. Our track took us through the Santa Barbara oil platforms and out to the far eastern channel. Totals for the day: 5000+ common dolphins and 2 humpback whales.

After one of Dave’s famous short discussions about platform Charlie (source of the 1969 oil spill that changed the world), we noticed a lot of activity to the S. It turned out to be an area with hundreds of sooty shearwaters feeding on northern anchovies in the water.  They were accompanied by hundreds of dolphins… we saw them all day, everywhere we went, in large numbers. There was also a single actively feeding humpback whale at this spot. It moved around the area and did a bit of sideways lunge feeding (see today’s photo for an example). SEE IDENTITY NOTE BELOW.

The crew put in a lot of time searching the far eastern waters, and finally came up with another humpback…a single juvenile whale (along with thousands of additional dolphins). We have seen it several times over the past two weeks. It is distinguished by a propeller scar across it’s back.

You never know what mother nature has in store.

Bob Perry

condorexpressphotos.com

NOTE: our friend and the whale ID expert, Susanne, was on board today and was able to use one of her tail photographs along with happywhale.com to identify the first whale.  

It’s designation is CRC-22597, and has been recorded 9 times (7 of them in the Santa Barbara Channel). The first record was made in June 2024. Records range from Morro Bay California to Cabo San Lucas, BCS, Mexico. The last recorded sighting, before today, was last December.