Spectacular conditions and hungry whales.

Image: a huge surface bait ball made up of northern anchovies is seen leaping out of the water in anticipation of a hungry lunge-feeding humpback whale that is coming up from below:  el momento de la verdad.

2025 08-28 SB Channel

Captain Dave and the crew ran a course due south from the harbor and out to the edge of the lanes, then back again. There was a lot of action starting north of the farm and outbound for about six straight miles. Conditions were practically perfect. Skies were sunny all day. The ocean surface was glassy with light ripples. There was no swell. It was a bit hazy, but you could still see several of the Channel Islands. Totals for the day include: 5000 common dolphins and 13 humpback whales. 

North of the farm we came across 3 whales. There was a mother, her calf, and an adult. The trio seem to be moving along slowly together.The calf made several close approaches before we slowly pulled away. This seemed to trigger a nice breach by the calf followed by some chin slaps. So we slowly returned, only to find the pair go back into a slow travel/logging mode. There were quite a few dolphins in this area.

A mile further to the south, we found a large birdnado with lots of dolphins and 4 more whales. This included another cow/calf pair  plus 2 additional whales. The mother found a school of northern anchovies close to the surface and right next to the Condor Express. It did some very dramatic sideways lunge-feeding a few feet from our hull.

Continuing south, we found more birdnados, more dolphins plus 3 additional, separate pairs of humpback whales. The second pair did quite a bit of straight up and down vertical lunge feeding.

You never know what mother nature has in store.

Bob Perry

condorexpressphotos.com

Note: nice to see such great weather and so many instances of lunge feeding.