Glassy seas produce five different marine mammal species!
- Bob Perry
- 12 minutes ago
- 2 min read
2025 12–21 SB Channel
Captain Eddy and the crew took the Condor Express on a big loop. After running far to the W, past platform Holly, we turned SE around the buoy, ending up in the Nbd lanes, then headed home. Seas were extremely calm and glassy all day. Skies were overcast, but we had good lateral visibility and could see all the islands. Water clarity remains superb. Sightings today were excellent: 500 California sea lions, 10 Dall’s porpoise, 5 humpback whales, 1 Minke whale and 50 common dolphins.
Astonishingly, the California sea lions, as they seem to do, found solace in the calm and glassy ocean surface. We counted 10 or 12 rafts of these furry pinnipeds, each with at least 50 beasts. What fun! The first group we found was off Goleta pier.
After making the big loop, and passing the buoy, a very friendly pod of at least 10 Dall’s porpoise showed up and rode our bow, side and stern waves. Once again, the persistent super clear water greatly enhanced our sighting. Checking my historical notes, outside of one rare encounter during August, the remainder of my sightings of these animals has always been in the winter months.
About a mile away, we found our first humpback whales. It was a trio, 1 large female, 1 medium whale at a smaller one. We hypothesized this was a mother and her calf, with a possible escort. They were socializing quite a bit including rolling around on the surface. They spent most of their time up, and rarely made quick shallow dives. The calf spent a lot of time close to mom and in contact with her body, perhaps soliciting nursing.
Soon, 2 additional humpback whales came into the zone. One of them kept going and the other one stayed to make a quartet with the trio. All of them had whitr pectoral flippers became very active, lob-tailing, trumpeting, rolling like a windmill (see today’s photo for an example), and sideways swimming. All 4 came close to the Condor Express on a few random occasions.
On the way home, we had a nice encounter with a small pod of common dolphins. Nearby, we had very good looks during an encounter with a single Minke whale. After it surfaced right in front of the Condor Express, we watched it for 4 or 5 breathing cycles, all fairly close. It was a nice final sighting to a great day in the Channel.
You never know what mother nature has in store.
Bob Perry
