Our string of gorgeous days full of wildlife continued today.
- Bob Perry
- 3 minutes ago
- 1 min read
2026 01–19 SB Channel
It was a clear and sunny day with flat sea conditions and super clear water as captain Eddy and the crew headed straight to the Santa Cruz Channel. Our wildlife counts for the day: 1 humpback whale, 10 offshore bottlenose dolphins, 3 blue sharks (we closely followed 1), and 4 gray whales (we stayed alongside 2 of them). The crew removed 2 fairly “fresh,” floating, Mylar balloons from the ocean surface.
S of the lanes we watched a single, very shy, humpback whale. It had very long downtimes and never showed its tail flukes. At one point, during our short time with it, the whale randomly surfaced near the Condor Express and this sighting was phenomenal.
Closer to Santa Cruz Island, we engaged a very small pod of offshore bottlenose dolphins. They did not do much bow or wake riding, but we did get great looks and the super clear water was marvelous.
Up in the Santa Cruz Channel, well past Forney’s, we followed a mostly cooperative pair of gray whales. They were moving slowly S, and showed their tail flukes frequently. (See today’s photograph for an example).
At various points in the trip we spotted a total of 3 small blue sharks finning on the surface. Two of them sounded immediately, and 1 stayed up for good looks.
You never know what mother nature has in the store.
Bob Perry
