Sunny, glassy, calm and full of dolphins and active humpback whales.
- Bob Perry
- Aug 22
- 2 min read
2025 08–22 SB Channel
Captain Eddy and the crew ran a big circle that headed west from the harbor, turned south when we were 4 miles off of Goleta Bay, eventually turned east near the buoy for several miles, and then headed north back to the Harbor. Conditions were both ideal and spectacular. The skies were sunny, blue and it was warm outside. Seas were glassy. A small long period swell that hardly anybody noticed rolled through. Sightings for the day included: 2500 common dolphins, 8 humpback whales and 50 California sea lions.
We spent some time with a total of 1000 dolphins, divided into the small pods of 200 or 300 each, 4 miles off Goleta Bay. There were also 2 humpback whales here, a large adult and a sub adult. Our deckhand, Isabel, was able to identify the adult as a female that was first identified in Nayarit, Mexico back in 2004. The sub adult was first recorded in 2022. The pair was logging for the most part, with long surface times and very short downtimes. They randomly popped to the surface close to the boat at one point for some excellent looks.
Near the buoy, mixed in with a couple hundred dolphins, there was another single whale. It, too, surfaced randomly next to the boat. (Personally I wonder just how “random” these events are, since humpbacks have all sorts of excellent sensory equipment).
Next, Isabel did it again. She spotted a breaching whale that was at least 5 miles away. When we got close, it was still breaching! It also rolled around, slapped its pectoral flippers, came close to the boat, breached repeatedly, and did some chin slapping. (See today’s photograph for an example). We watched this marvelous creature for over an hour before heading back to the harbor.
On the way back, we passed at least 500 more dolphins and had close drive-by looks at 4 additional whales.
You never know what mother nature has in store.
Bob Perry
Note: remember to sign up for our September 6th eight hour whale watch to benefit The American Cetacean Society.
