Whale and dolphin madness on a glass mirror
- Bob Perry
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
2025 07-13 SB Channel
Captain Eddy and our multi-talented crew made maximum use of a shear, oil-like mirror glass sea surface that lasted all day AND, for a change, had been forecasted well in advance by NOAA Weather. Three cheers for NOAA and the Condor Express crew. Sightings for the day included: 8000 common dolphins, 15 humpback whales and 25+ California sea lions.
Southeast of The Farm (which seems to be in a removal process, BTW) we followed a megapod of at least 2500 common dolphins. Before long, a humpback whale cow/calf pair joined in. There were an additional 4 more whales in the near distance that we did not formally get set up on. The pair made several friendly passes and the mother did some nice pec fin slaps.
A bit further south we found 6 more whales and got enthralled by 2 of them that were very active. In addition to friendly passes, the duo did a lengthy kelping session that included all body parts: head kelp, pec fin kelp, dorsal kelp and tail flukes, too. (See today’s image for an example of head/rostrum kelping).
Throughout the trip when we were on station with whales AND during travel between sightings, many more megapods of dolphins were seen.
The final chapter in today’s epic adventure involved an additional mother and calf whale. In addition to being just as friendly as the earlier whales, this pair was very active. The calf ran through a repetitive cycle of breach-pec slap-short dive for over 30 minutes. The mother, meanwhile was engaged in rolling and pec slapping including some windmills.
You never know what Mother Nature has in store.
Bob Perry
