Sunny, glassy, lazy summer day full of whales and dolphins.
- Bob Perry
- Jul 23
- 2 min read
2025 07–23 SB Channel
Spectacular conditions prevailed in our portion of the Channel today. Sunny skies, glassy seas, and especially crystal underwater visibility made finding and watching wildlife amazing. Most of the action took place inside the lanes today. Sightings: 2000 common dolphins, 10 humpback whales (we closely watched 4), 1 Minke whale and 30 California sea lions.
It seems that the ideal summer atmosphere in the ocean affected both the dolphins and the humpback whales today. Once again the dolphins were spread across the channel everywhere we went in small groups. But their behavior was mostly just slow travel, perhaps searching for food? They were friendly with the boat and We had great looks.
The humpback whales were similarly kind of sluggish. For the most part they were moving slowly with short downtimes. All of the whales we saw, except for the last one, were juveniles. We had good tail flukes.
Our second humpback whale approached the boat and swam underneath. It paused astern and was seemingly enjoying our jet wash. People went back to watch it. But it had vanished under the boat only to pop up again right off the bow. (See today’s photo for an example). A nearby Minke whale cruised alongside for two or three breaths.
Captain Eddy and the crew took advantage of the great weather to cruise along the majestic sea cliffs canyons and grottos that constitute the northern face of beautiful Santa Cruz Island. Conditions were so calm, that Eddy was able to put the Condor Express inside the first chamber of the world‘s longest sea cave, the Painted Cave.
On the way home we drove past at least six more humpback whales but did not have time to stop.
You never know what mother nature has in store.
Bob Perry
