Perfect weather and loads of excellent sights.
- Bob Perry
- 6 days ago
- 2 min read
Image: referencing yesterday’s trip… sorry about the delay… here’s a swordfish on the ocean surface. We’re keeping an eye out for more as the Super El Niño develops.
2026 08–11 SB Channel
August always brings wonderful weather and sea conditions in the Channel. Captain Dave and the crew report bery clear water, calm seas, sunny skies, and no wind. We headed S for about 4 miles then spent the rest of the trip W, perhaps 7 miles S of platform Holly. Sightings: 4000 common dolphins, 2 Minke whales, 3 humpback whales, and 30 California sea lions.
There was a large number of dolphins today and we started seeing them when we were heading S. There were groups everywhere, mostly with a few dozen individuals each. As with all of the sightings today, the super clear. Santa Barbara cobalt water revealed everything that went on beneath the surface.
Although mostly deep, we observed a couple of bait balls on the surface and Captain Dave was able to slowly drift up next to them so we got great looks… until the dolphins came in!
Our examination of the big hotspot S of platform Holly began with 2 relatively shy Minke whales. They were followed immediately by 3 individual humpback whales. 2 of them joined forces and a third one kept its distance 100 yards away. We followed a yearling which our multi-talented deckhand, Isabel, looked up, named “2024–2025 calf of CRC–12484.” it’s proper designation, in case you want to look it up the quick way, is HW-MN0503986. Today’s sighting will be only the third time that it has been recorded since it was first put into the system back in November of last year. Similar to the yearling that we saw yesterday, it has only been recorded in the Santa Barbara Channel…we expect that to change when it makes its first migration. We watched one quick birdnado and the yearling did some lunge-feeding on the surface.
There were a bunch of individuals and pairs of sea lions around, but no big mobs.
You never know what mother nature has in store.
Bob Perry
Note 1 - thanks to Isabel for her photo ID help.
Note 2 - a correction to yesterday’s report: a swordfish was seen on the surface right off the bow. (See today’s photo for an example).
