Calm seas with excellent dolphin, whale and bird action.
- Bob Perry
- Jun 26
- 2 min read
2025 06-26 SB Channel
Captain Dave and the crew experienced great sea conditions again today. Although there was a high stratus layer, the breeze was light and variable and seas were calm. Sightings included 8+ humpback whales, 50 California sea lions and 4000 common dolphins. The crew removed 2 Mylar, floating, deflated balloons from the ocean surface…one was during a mugging session.
We ran a large circular path again today, starting out by heading west close to The Mesa, heading southwest to The Buoy area, running east a short while, then heading north again towards The Harbor.
The westward coastal run along The Mesa coincided with our encounter with a pod of several hundred common dolphins that were feeding very close to shore. They were surface feeding and flipped upside down at the end of the hunt to capture their prey (small baitfish, northern anchovies). We’d continue to cross paths with dolphins all day long and many encounters also featured California sea lions and feeding marine birds, especially sooty shearwaters.
Near The Buoy, amidst more dolphins, our sharp-eyed deckhand Isabel spotted a distant breach. As we changed course in that direction, we found two individual humpback whales. Both were in slow travel mode mixed with subsurface feeding. One instance of sideways surface lunge feeding was observed.
East of The Buoy we found an area with a total of 5 more whales: 3 singles and a pair. Lots of dolphins here, too. The whales came together briefly to form a group of 5. Later, the original single and the pair mugged the boat for at least ½ hour. (See today’s image for an example of mugging). Lots of vocalizations were heard from the trio.
You never know what Mother Nature has in store.
Bob Perry
