Nice sea conditions today resulted in 1500 dolphins, 4 humpbacks, and a lone Minke.
- Bob Perry
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
2025 11–12 SB Channel
As has been the pattern all week, Captain Eddy and the crew took the Condor Express southwest in the general direction of the western end of beautiful Santa Cruz Island. There was a thin marine layer all day making it a bit gray. The ocean surface had a light breeze and a gently rolling, long period, 3 foot swell. Totals for the day included: 1 Minke whale, 4 humpback whales and 1500 common dolphins.
Less than 1 mile off Ledbetter we studied a large pod of common dolphins that were spread out over about a mile and made up several dozen smaller groups. The pod was busy feeding on the surface anchovy population, and most of them were flipping upside down to expose their white bellies during the final moments of the hunt. (See today’s photo for an example). During all this excitement a single Minke whale popped up twice.
When we were about halfway across The Channel, and still north of The Buoy, we saw our first whale. It was a solo adult humpback and it’s behavior would be mirrored by every single one of the remaining whales seen throughout the rest of the trip. It had long downtimes, traveled in random directions while submerged, and then had short surface intervals. On a more positive note, we saw plenty of good tail flukes.
In the Separation Zone we watched 2 single whales. Southeast of The Lanes we watched a single adult. On the way home we altered our course to avoid a container ship and immediately found a large birdnado with 200 more dolphins happily feeding. Finally, south of The Farm we observed another 500 dolphins but did not have time to stop.
You never know what Mother Nature has in store.
Bob Perry
