Some wonderful sightings today out by the buoy.
Image: a side-lunging, surface feeding humpback whale in the Santa Barbara Channel.
2026 09–19 SB Channel
Most of the action today took place in the general vicinity of the buoy. It was sunny, there was not much wind, and the water clarity was good again. Total sightings included: 1500 common dolphins, 3 humpback whales, 100 California sea lions, and one Mola mola(ocean sunfish).
Our first sighting was a mega pod of common dolphins with about 1000 individuals, and soon thereafter we observed a single juvenile humpback. (Our friend Mark identified the young whale…see end of this report).
Mark’s whale was moving towards a pop-up birdnado that wasn’t too far away. Even though it was short-lived, there was an additional pair of humpbacks here. Both were sideways lunge-feeding (See today’s photo for an example). About 200 more dolphins, and at least 100 California sea lions, were feeding at the same banquet.
Captain Eddy followed the humpbacks as they were cruising E, and eventually encountered an additional 200 dolphins plus a single ocean sunfish.
You never know what mother nature has in store.
Bob Perry
NOTE
The juvenile humpback whale was identified as CRC-21720, after Mark took a good photograph of its tail and used www.happywhale.com to identify it. If you look it up yourself, like I did you will find this whale was first identified in September 2023 and has been recorded 10 times. It was first recorded by Mark! The last record was in July of this year prior to today’s siding. It is arranged as far north of Santa Cruz and as far south as Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
