Quality versus quantity.. a single humpback whale demonstrated every behavior in the book.
- Bob Perry
- 1 day ago
- 1 min read
Image: the Condor Express covered a lot of water, and ran a big circular path, before finally “hitting the jackpot” with a fabulous sighting. This is shown by yellow and red lines. (Image courtesy of www.marinetraffic.com ).
2026 08–08 SB Channel
Sunny skies prevailed all day and there was no swell. The ocean surface was glassy in the morning until light breeze picked up in the afternoon. The water clarity continues to be amazing. With regard to sightings, often times quality is far better than quantity: one humpback whale and 200 common dolphins. Our deckhand Isabel retrieved a single, deflated, floating, Mylar balloon from the ocean surface at the beginning of the trip.
We found a single humpback whale (see yellow and red lines in image above) and watched it for about an hour. During that time the whale was constantly active. We saw a repeated breaching, chin-slapping, tail-throwing, and pectoral fin-slapping. The whale definitely had a need for big action and showed a lot of stamina!
Isabel took a nice tail fluke photograph off this whale and used her research skills to try and identify the beast. Initial indications are that she may have been the first one to record it into the citizen-science database that we all use called happywhale.com. Huge kudos to Isabel and documenting whale previously unknown to science.
On the way home had good looks at about 200 common dolphins.
You never know what mother nature has in store.
Bob Perry
