Friendly humpbacks, a gray whale, and a fin whale.

Image: a couple of friendly humpback whales are shown close to the Condor Express in the Santa Barbara Channel. (hint: the second whale is just beneath the surface in the upper right).

2026 04–23 SB Channel  

The storm passed and the winds have subsided. It was a beautiful sunny day. A light bump in the morning quickly dissipated, and there were no winds. Two trips produced the following sightings: 6 humpback whales, 1 gray whale, 1 fin whale, and 25 common dolphins.

The morning adventure featured a single gray whale which was located 5 miles S of platform Holly. It made a couple of close passes and everybody had wonderful looks.

There was a bit more diversity in the afternoon. Captain Dave ran S to the buoy where we found a single, small (perhaps 30 foot) fin whale. It swam by the boat a couple of times and even passed under the bow.

Just a quarter mile away multiple spouts revealed the presence of 3 adult humpback whales. One of them became friendly with the boat. The trio engaged in some socialization that included close body contact and rolling around. During their playtime they happened to come close to the boat at one point. There were an additional 3 humpbacks close by.

On the way home, and just a few miles S of the Harbor, we had a good interaction with 25 friendly common dolphins.

You never know what mother nature has in store.

Bob Perry

condorexpressphotos.com

NOTE: late breaking news. One of the highlights of the trip that did not make it into the first draft above: 2 giant-sized ocean sunfish (Mola mola) were right next to the boat gobbling down purple sailor jellies (Velella velella) like they were hors d’oeuvres. I’ve already started to put some photos of this behavior here: https://www.condorexpressphotos.com/2026/2026-04-19-SB-Channel