Image: A large and friendly ocean sunfish (Mola mola) with its fans.
2024 07-17 SB Channel
It was another gorgeous day in The Channel, with sunny skies and only a few small cloud puffs later in the trip. Seas started off glassy and ended up with a few whitecaps after noon. A little wind swell from the west was running especially early. Sightings for the day: 4 humpback whales, 1500 common dolphins and 1 BIG ocean sunfish (Mola mola).
Just 3 miles out we spotted a small juvenile whale that was a bit shy. It was in travel mode, moving east. It spent most of its time underwater, but did show its tail flukes on every dive.
A mile later we watched two pods of dolphins with at least 500 individuals in each. The second pod had numerous cow-calf pairs. A little later the crew spotted a big ocean sunfish, perhaps 6 ft or more in length. I dove once for a few minutes, but otherwise was on the choppy surface for at least 20 minutes. (See this Mola mola with its fan club in today’s photograph).
We saw a huge spout in the distance, searched for nearly 30 minutes, but never saw the beast.
In the afternoon, our PID CINC naturalist, Becky, spotted a mother humpback whale with a small juvenile. The pair had long dive times and moved a great distance in random directions. PS We’d see this pair later in the trip. Thanks, Becky!
Soon we located a large humpback with white pectoral flippers. The water clarity and white pecs made it easy to follow this whale as it covered a great distance “snorkeling” just beneath the surface. It was moving straight west. We were in the eastern Channel when we finally headed home. Soon thereafter we spotted Becky’s dynamic duo again.
You never know what Mother Nature has in store.
Bob Perry
Condor Express, and
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