Superb conditions for a monster mugging.
Image: a very young common dolphin calf swims alongside its mother in the Santa Barbara Channel.
2026 10–18 SB Channel
Captain Eddy reports perfect conditions for finding and observing wildlife today. It was sunny, glassy, and the water was clear. Total sightings for the trip included: 5 humpback whales (we closely watched 3), and 800 common dolphins.
After running SW, we stopped just short of the buoy to watch a small but friendly pod of common dolphins. The water was very clear and watching the dolphins behavior down deep was a real treat.
Continuing on our route, in the northbound lanes, we encountered 3 adult humpbacks together. One of them left the area and the remaining 2 immediately came to the Condor Express and proceeded to mug us for 1 hour and 20 minutes. It was an amazing encounter. We saw kelping. spy hops., bubble blasts, swimming upside down under the boat and a great tail flukes. There were several instances of trumpet vocalizations. There was an additional pair of whales in the near distance, but we did not have time.
During our long mugging session, our deckhand Isabel was able to retrieve 2 deflated, floating, Mylar balloons from the ocean surface in addition to one plastic bucket. This flotsam no doubt blew out to the ocean with the Santa Ana winds we had earlier this week.
We moved East a little bit and encountered a much larger pod of at least 700 dolphins. There were lots of little calves in the group. (See today’s photo for an example.).
You never know what mother nature has in store.
Bob Perry
NOTE
Our friend Mark was on board today. He used his photographic skills along with www.happywhale.com to identify one of the whales. Thanks Mark!
The individuals designation is:
CRC-21627
Please use happywhale.com yourself and find out all sorts of information about this individual and others that we see on a regular basis.
