Epic whale and dolphin sightings with a spectacular sky above.

Image: famous people often use the Condor Express to get a regular dose of whale and dolphin love. (Jean-Michelle Cousteau helped start the Santa Barbara Channel Whale Heritage area). Photo by Holly Lohuis, Co-Director of the Santa Barbara Channel Whale Heritage area.

2026 04–11 SB Channel 

Dramatic skies, filled with beautiful cumulus clouds and lots of sunny patches in between, provided a beautiful backdrop for our wildlife adventures. A long-period 4 foot swell gently rolled through with hardly any wind at all. Two trips, 9 A and a 12 N, left the Harbor and here are the total sightings: 35 offshore bottlenose dolphins, 400 common dolphins, and 5 humpback whales.

Captain Dave put us on a SW course for the last known humpback whale location, and very quickly encountered a wonderful pod of offshore bottlenose dolphins. They stayed with the boat and were friendly, but Dave got them motivated by temporarily increasing our speed. The result was plenty of high flying and wake surfing.

As we approached the target whale location, the crew was assisted today by the sharp eyes of Juan “ Sky Angel Drones” Morales (he did not fly today, BTW). We found a nice area with 3 adult humpbacks. (Deckhand Isabel and our friend Susanne, have identified these whales, see the note below). The whales showed their tail flukes frequently and made a couple of close passes by the Condor Express.

12 N got everybody on their feet right away as we found a 400-strong common dolphin pod spread out over a couple of miles. They were particularly friendly and, like their larger cousins the bottlenose dolphins, enjoyed surfing our bow, side, and stern waves.  

Returning to the humpback zone, 2 of the morning humpbacks were still there. At times they were rather sluggish and did a bit of logging on the surface. At one point, they made a close pass and swam under our bow… great for whale selfies!

You never know what mother nature has in store.

Bob Perry

condorexpressphotos.com

NOTE: here are the whale identifications that I promised. Theses can be used in happywhale.com  to track them anytime you want. (Whales 1 and 2 were seen on both trips).

1. CRC-10835  first sighted in 1995, California. Last sighting before today was 2025-07, also California. It is arranged from San Francisco California to Guadalajara Mexico.

2. CRC- 11674  first sighted in 2003, California. Last sighting before today October, 2024, California. Ranging from Santa Cruz,  California to Guadalajara Mexico.

3. CRC-18951  presided 2019, California. Last sighting before today was 2025-06, California. Recorded from Monterey, California to Puerto Angel, Mexico.