So many whales and dolphins near the coast that it became difficult to count them.
- Bob Perry
- 2 days ago
- 1 min read
Image: a close look at a birdnado near the Santa Barbara coast.
2026 06–21 SB Channel
A SE breeze in the morning died quickly and it remained glassy and sunny all day. The water was clear everywhere we traveled. Like previous trips this week, all of the action was near the coast between the Harbor to the E and Elwood Beach to the W. Total sightings today: 35 humpback whales (we closely watched 17), 3000 common dolphins, and 60 California sea lions.
Our first sighting of whales, sea lions and dolphins took place with a birdnado that was 2 miles S of Ledbetter. (See today's photograph for example). We observed 2 individual whales plus a mother with her calf. The calf did quite a bit of rolling around and some tail-throwing. This location also kicked off our day-long common dolphin encounters which continued everywhere we went. There were also 60 California sea lions.
Captain Eddy and the crew moved offshore a little bit and then followed the whales and dolphins to the W. By the time we passed platform Holly we had counted 13 additional humpback whales and had slowed down to watch 6 more of them. 2 individuals that we saw in the distance were breaching.
We moved closer to the beach and headed E back to the Harbor. 18 more whales were sighted, and we assumed some (or most ) of them were the same whales we saw on our westward journey earlier in the trip.
We did not re-sight the entangled humpback whale that was reported yesterday.
You never know what mother nature has in store.
Bob Perry
