Exhilarating wind and seas fires up 7 humpbacks, 400 sea lions and a load of wildlife fans.
- Bob Perry
- May 20
- 1 min read
2025 05–20 SB Channel
Captain Dave and the crew found a bumpy, windy day in The Channel. On the plus, the sky was sunny and bright. Total sightings for the day included 7 humpback whales and 400 California sea lions.
Dave headed southwest towards The Buoy. When we were just west of The Farm there was a small birdnado in the distance with lots of splashing and action going on. Upon arriving at the scene it turned out to be a large mob of at least 400 California sea lions actively feeding subsurface in groups of 50 or 60 each.
Continuing southwest, we encountered our first whale. It was an adult that fluked up on each dive. We continued about three miles and found 3 additional, individual humpbacks. One of them became very active and a long pectoral fin slapping session followed by a couple of nice breaches. A second individual did a series of very unique subsurface lunges that involved coming straight up then rolling over upside down at the last minute exposing its ventral pleats. (See today’s photograph for an example). While all this was going on, yet another whale was breaching in the distance.
On the way home, there was a massive birdnado with 2 individual whales.
You never know what Mother Nature has in store.
Bob Perry
