Neither high winds nor big swells shall keep us from our appointed rounds
- Bob Perry
- Jul 24
- 1 min read
Image: a mega pod of common dolphins in the Santa Barbara Channel.
2026 07–24 SB Channel
Captain Dave has been working for Condor Cruises for several decades. So you can bet he is a good man to quote. When I asked him how the conditions were today he replied: “it was very nautical.” This of course is boatslang for it being windy, with a big swell. On the plus side it was bright and sunny all day. He steered a course SW and ended up near the buoy where things have been very active this week. Today’s sightings: 2 humpback whales, 800 common dolphins, and 20 California sea lions.
All of today’s sightings were made near the buoy hotspot, and they got started with a very active breaching adult in the distance that kept on going so everybody had wonderful looks. There was a second whale here too, a juvenile. Most of the action consisted of sub-surface feeding and kicking up tails on terminal dives. Our multi-talented deck hand, Isabel, was able to photograph the tails of both of these whales and look them up using happywhale.com The adult was CRC-10203, and the juvenile was CRC-18956. You can look up their information and/or search for other whales. Happy Whale is for citizen scientists (like Isabel), and you can enter your own tail fluke photos…even if they’re from an iPhone.
There was a mega-pod of dolphins in this area alongside the whales. They were tightly organized pod, and fun to watch. (See today’s photograph for an example).
You never know what mother nature has in store.
Bob Perry
