Sunny and windy conditions with lots of dolphins plus a sea lion/humpback playtime
- Jun 16
- 1 min read
2025 06–16 SB Channel
It was clear and sunny again, primarily due to the wind. There was also a chunky 4 ft swell that made things on board ship a bit “nautical.” Captain Eddy and the crew ran towards The Buoy and tried their best to spend time with the wind and waves astern. Totals for the trip included: 2250 common dolphins, 1 humpback whale and 1 (very peculiar) young California sea lion.
There was a scattered megapod of common dolphins near The Rigs and several birdnados. The dolphins were feeding on the surface. From there we moved south and found a very large humpback whale. It was a slow moving whale with six minutes up and six minutes down. It slowly approached the boat in a friendly manner a couple of times.
Perhaps the most unusual thing was the presence of a very small juvenile California sea lion that was playing with the whale. It followed the whale underwater and then came up to the surface and the whale would follow. The little brown furry mammal would jump around near the whale and seemed to be “having a lot of fun with it’s buddy”. (See today’s photograph for an example).
On the way home we found and watched another megapod of dolphins.
You never know what Mother Nature has in store.
Bob Perry
