Lots of whales, lots of action, including some upside down feeding by common dolphins.
- Bob Perry
- Jul 30
- 2 min read
2025 07–30 SB Channel
Skies were sunny and clear. A light breeze blew in our region of the channel. There was a light bump from the west. Captain Eddy and the crew ran a southwesterly course and eventually ended up at the far side of the lanes just past the buoy. Sightings for the day included: 4 humpback whales (one was a quick breach), 1500 common dolphins and 15 California sea lions.
The action began very close to shore, just a mile and a half after we left the Harbor. We found a nice sized pod at least 400 dolphins in the middle of a large birdnado. There was a lot of feeding going on, including upside-down feeding.(See today is photograph for an example of this feeding behavior).
A few few big bait balls were nearby, and a single humpback whale was attracted to the action. Captain Eddy wisely recommended that everybody look off the bow at the bait ball, as it might become a whale target. However, the whale pranked Eddy by breaching astern just as everybody was looking forward for the action. Score one point for whale! (For the record, Captain Eddy is right about 99% of the time as far as these bait balls and whales go.) The whale stayed around and had short dive times so everybody got great looks.
After a drive southwest, we found a megapod of at least 1000 dolphins just east of the buoy. There were quite a few sea lions following them around and there was one humpback breach in the distance… Could be that only the crew saw it.
Yet another humpback whale surfaced nearby when we were in the southbound lanes, at the edge of the separation zone. Some looks were had, but it was generally a shy whale. The last whale of the day was a large one. We found it as we began heading north back to the harbor. It had huge tail flukes that it proudly showed on each dive.
You never know what mother nature has in store.
Bob Perry
