Lots of great natural wonders to behold!
- Bob Perry
- Apr 19
- 2 min read
2026 04–19 SB Channel
The scattered clouds on the blue sky completely disappeared by the afternoon excursion. Very light winds also dropped out. There was no swell. Total of the day: 300 common dolphins, 5 Mola mola, 1 humpback whale, 1 blue shark, 1 Minke whale, and 2 gray whales.
Both excursions encountered common dolphins all along our course. There were never more than about 20 in any one area. Cruising along searching, feeding on small hotspots and riding our waves are always great behaviors to see.
In the morning, we had a quick look at 4 tiny, dinner plate-sized, Mola mola, and 1 shy blue shark.
We spent the rest of the trip watching 1 humpback whale. It made a close approach to the Condor Express, and kicked up its tail flukes several times.(See note below regarding the identification of this individual).
In the afternoon, we had one quick look at a shy Minke whale that looked like it was working the edge of a small hotspot before it disappeared from view.
Among the top sightings for the day was the time we spent with a very large Mola mola that swam through a swarm of Velella, and ravenously consumed many of them right in front of us. (see photo above taken today). It is always a natural wonder to see this normally docile species that flaps around on the ocean surface soaking up the sun, turn into a predator.
Not far from the Harbor, on the way back home, we found 2 northbound migrating gray whales. It turned out to be a mother with her very small calf. We tracked the pair along the coast for a while. We had wonderful looks of the 2 when they came up to the surface for a breath of air.
You never know what mother nature has in store.
Bob Perry
NOTE: A special thanks to our friend and expert humpback whale ID person, Susanne, for taking a tail photograph of our humpback today and using www.happywhale.com to find it's name: "Kink." It's catalogue numer is CRC-19979, and was first recorded in April, 2021, here in the Santa Barbara Channel and is a calf of CRC-11630. Prior to today, it was last seen on March 11 of this year. It has been observered as far north as Morro Bay (13 times!), and south to Cabo San Lucas, BCS, Mexico.
