Isla Vista humpbacks
- Bob Perry
- 2 hours ago
- 1 min read
2026 04–04 SB Channel
At noon, Captain Dave and the crew headed W, up the coast to a point about 4 miles off of Isla Vista and E of platform Holly (See today’s photograph for an example). It was a partly sunny day, a little bit on the cool side, a medium breeze was blowing, and a nasty bump from the W was coming through the zone. Sightings for the day: 2 humpback whales and 1 blue shark.
Our first encounter was with 2 individual humpback whales. Both were young, perhaps sub-adult/juveniles. They had different personalities with respect to the Condor Express: one came up at random close to the boat, the other had long downtimes and took a zigzag submarine pattern that made it hard to follow.
As we were watching the first, more cooperative whale, we got a decent look at a young blue shark on the surface.
You never know what mother nature has in store.
Bob Perry
Note: our friend Susanne was on board again today and was able to capture a nice tail fluke image of the first whale. Using the www.happywhale.com website, she identified it.
It’s designation is: HW-MN0503993, it has been recorded eight times since November 2025. All of the previous sightings, including the last one in December 2025, we’re in Monterey Bay. Today’s observation was the first record for the Santa Barbara channel.
You can use Happywhale yourself to learn more about this individual.
