More sunny calm and clear ocean waters today let us to some wonderful sea lion and whale interactions.
- Bob Perry
- 5 days ago
- 2 min read
2025 09–01 SB Channel
It was another flat, calm and sunny day in the channel with great water clarity. There were some wisps of fog around in the early a.m. Captain Eddy took us into the eastern channel and ended up at beautiful Prisoners Cove on Santa Cruz Island. Sightings for the trip included: 1 Minke whale, 4000 common dolphins, 4 humpback whales and 35 Risso’s dolphins.
Just 4 miles offshore, around 10:30 AM, we found a single Minke whale. It made numerous surface/breathing intervals and we had great looks,except it did not get too close to us. We continued moving south.
Around 11:20 AM, we encountered a megapod of common dolphins in travel mode. They were spread out over at least a mile of water. We continued onward towards the island.
12:25 PM - we found another large pod of commons as we approach the island.
12:45 PM - There were several large mega-mobs of California sea lions. They would log on the surface, then suddenly all dive and disappear, only to return again after a few minutes.
We soon figured out they were tracking the dive cycle of 3 humpback whales. My best guess is they would dive down and locate the subsurface feeding whales. They might pick up by-catch and a few live fish as well. Then they’d return to the surface to catch their breath, unable to stay down as long as a whale.
Finally, on a surface spot well-marked by the sea lions, the whales surfaced for their own breathing time. The whales moved around, and so did the sea lions. It was an amazing partnership to watch on this sunny day at the island.
We turned to head home and, when we were just a mile or so en route, we encountered a large, spread out pod of wonderful Risso‘s dolphins. We spent a considerable amount of time watching them swim and dive and interact in the crystal clear water.
You never know what mother nature has in store.
Bob Perry
Note: as captain Eddy steered, our deck hand Aspen retrieved two different individual, floating, Mylar balloons from the ocean surface today. Thanks and kudos to our friend Susanne who identified the whales we watched interacting with the sea lion mobs: MN0503836 -seen only three times previously, and only this year and only in the Channel.
MN0503758 - seen only twice previously, and only this year, first in Morro Bay.
CRC-22689 - seen only twice previously, both in 2024 from Avila Beach.
