It was sunny all day and an early morning bump laid down around noon. Good humpback whale sightings and a large pod of offshore bottlenose dolphins.
- Bob Perry
- Oct 4
- 2 min read
Updated: Oct 4
2025 10–04 SB Channel
A moderate morning bump from the W laid down about halfway through the trip. Otherwise, skies were sunny and bright all day long…great for finding and watching wildlife. Total sightings: 4 humpback whales and 100 offshore bottlenose dolphins. The first leg of the trip today took us directly straight line SW to the NOAA buoy. Captain Dave and the crew turned The Condor Express E, and we ran for about 5 miles. There were 2 nice hotspots along this leg. At the end, we went directly N back to the harbor.
Almost immediately after making our E turn, we spent some quality time with a large female known as “Stump.“ (Our deckhand Isabel, and a friend of the boat Susanne, collaborated in identifying our whales today. See more details in my NOTE at the end).
A few of Stump’s terminal deep dives were unique. Instead of gently raising its tail and then descending, Stump kicked its tail way up in the air, so almost half its body was 180° straight up and down, and then it descended. (See today’s photograph for an example). Everyone on board had great looks.
About 2 miles away to the E, we encountered a large pod of highly animated and aerial offshore bottlenose dolphins with quite a few calves. Captain Dave use one of his old bottlenose tricks: he put the Condor Express into a high speed circle that generated some nice waves. These big dolphins went crazy: surfing, leaping and jumping in the waves, often leaping 15 or 20 feet in the air. This population is a lot more animated than their coastal cousins that we see near the harbor.
About a mile later, right before we turned N to go home, we spent some time with a trio of humpbacks. One of them left the trio for a while and came over to the boat. It proceeded to mug us up and down port and starboard sides, then rejoined the other two whales.
You never know what mother nature has in store.
Bob Perry
NOTE: The sharp eyes, great photographic skills, and proficient use of happywhale.com was demonstrated through a collaboration between our deckhand, Isabel, and one of our friends, Susanne. They were able to identify all 4 whales that were seen today. Here are their official alpha-numeric designations in order (I hope!) so you can find out all about them using happywhale.com yourself: CRC-12083 (Stump), CRC-30032, CRC-20507, and CRC-22765.
