Marine mammal drama not far from home.

Image: an exuberant young humpback whale lays-out for a spectacular landing after a monster breach.

2026 06–18 SB Channel

Skies were overcast and a gentle breeze wafted across the channel. Captain Eddy took the Condor Express SW and we spent the entire trip about 7 miles S of More Mesa. The following numbers do not do justice to the action: 9 humpback whales, 1000 common dolphins, 100 California sea lions, and 50 offshore bottlenose dolphins. Please read the details below.

The hot zone today featured several small “pop-up” birdnados, which attracted lots of marine mammal attention. Feeding alongside the birds, there were at least 1000 common dolphins. The dolphins were around and very active until, later in day, an pod of about 50 of the larger offshore bottlenose dolphin species seemed to “chase the commons away.” This is the first time I’ve heard of this behavior! Coincidence?

There were 6 active humpback whales, including 4 individuals and a mother (name Trident) with her calf. (Our talented deckhand Isabel was able to identify 4 of the whales today, see the note at the end of this report). One of the 4 was a juvenile, and spent pretty much the rest of the trip with aggressive aerial activities. We saw lots of breaching (see today’s photo for an example), chin slaps, pectoral fin slaps, as well as rolling around quite a bit. What a show!

You never know what mother nature has in store.

Bob Perry

condorexpressphotos.com

NOTE: here is some background information about four of our whales thanks again to Isabel! You will see the “Code” number for each of the them if you want to use happywhale.com for their information as well as others in the future.

CRC-11384 a female named Trident. (seen with calf today)

Has been recorded 17 times, three of those were in the Santa Barbara channel. The first was in the year 2000. It has moved from Monterey California in the north, all the way to Puerto Vallarta Mexico in the south. It was last seen in 2024

CRC-12573 named Blingy. Has previously been seen 60 times, 33 were in the Santa Barbara channel. It was first recorded in 2008. Its northernmost record was Monterey California, and in the south near Puerto Escondido Mexico. It was last recorded in April of this year.

CRC 9012 has been recorded 31 times (16 in the Santa Barbara channel), the first time being in 1988! It has traveled from San Francisco California, as far south as Manzanillo, Mexico. It was last sighted in May of this year.

CRC – 22597 with 12 records and 10 of them from the Santa Barbara Channel. It was first recorded in 2024 and it’s last sighting was earlier this month. It has gone from Morro Bay California in the north as as far south as Cabo San Lucas, BCS, Mexico. Go