Humpback and sea lion masses
- Bob Perry
- 6 days ago
- 2 min read
2025 10–31 Halloween in the Channel.
The overcast sky and light wind in the morning slowly turned into glassy seas with hazy sunshine. A moderate bump rolled through from the W. Captain Eddy and crew ran straight S to a spot 2 miles N of the lanes, turned E for several miles, and then headed back to the harbor. Total sightings: 600 California sea lions, 26 humpback whales (we closely watched 20), and 25 common dolphins.
The eastern leg was the most productive. There were whales and spouts in all directions. We saw 3 large birdnados upon which Eddy zeroed-in. Each one had between 6 and 8 whales plus an entourage of a couple of hundred sea lions. The bait appeared to be both on the surface and at depth. We witnessed episodes of vertical surface lunge feeding, as well as some prolonged dives accompanied by sea lions which suggests sub-surface feeding is going on. The “yo-yo partnership cycle” between the Pinnipeds and the Mysticetes was observed. The whales dove down, sea lions waited a while then followed, sea lions returned to the surface, and finally so did the whales. Rinse and repeat. The moral of the story is that sea lions can’t hold their breath as long as a whale.
Besides the surface feeding activities of the humpback whales, we saw lots of interaction and socialization going on. (Keep in mind that humpback whales, like all baleen whales, with a possible exception of Minkes, will soon be heading to the subtropics to breed and give birth. It is very natural to see courtship behavior in the Santa Barbara Channel this time of year). Thus, we watched rolling around, chasing, chin slapping, spy hopping, as well as trumpet and chattering vocalizations. That reminds me I have to get some recordings done!
When we were 4 miles from home, about even with the oil rig line, a small but friendly pod of common dolphins located the Condor Express. They rode our bow, side and stern waves as well as tilted over several times to get an eye on their dolphin fans on board ship.
You never know what mother nature has in store.
Bob Perry
NOTES: if you want to try out your www.happywhale.com skills, our friend and whale tail enthusiast, Susanne, was out today and has produced the following list of whales that she was able to identify through their tail patterns. If you’re looking them up, all of them will have a CRC- prefix: 15024, 18960, 22599, 22588 a.k.a. Fireball, 21718 and the first whale was 22018. Thank you Susanne!
