Glassy seas were perfect for observing 4 humpback whales, 1 Minke whale, and 2500 dolphins
- Bob Perry
- 1 day ago
- 2 min read
2026 06–02 SB Channel
There was a little bit of a swell from the W, and skies were overcast all day. The ocean surface was mill pond mirror glass and the water was very clear. Captain Eddy and the crew headed SE towards the recently notorious Platform Habitat, then cruised directly E, ending up halfway between Anacapa and Ventura. Sightings: 1 Minke whale, 4 humpback whales, and 2500 common dolphins.
N of the Santa Barbara oil rigs we slowed down for a small pod of about 300 common dolphins. They came to the boat, played alongside and surfed our wake waves. We would see larger groups of dolphins all day long, wherever we traveled.
N of platform Gina, a breach in the distance directed us to our first of 4 humpback whales that we would see today. It was an active whale, with pec-slapping and chin-slapping. It is one of the whales that we saw yesterday. Eddy mentioned a large horizontal propeller scar on its right side. It was a great whale to watch because it’s dives were very short, some were around 30 seconds.
A second humpback whale swam into the area. It also had short, one minute, dive times. While we were watching, a lone Minke whale swam through and everybody got good looks.
S of platform Gina, there were 2 additional, individual, humpback whales. One moved S, and the other N. We stayed with the northern whale as it was feeding sub-surface. It also did some big tail-lobs and some chin-slaps. We also heard trumpet vocalization. The encounter ended with 2 exciting full body breaches. (See today’s photo montage for an example).
You never know what mother nature has in store.
Bob Perry
