Image: a tiny newborn common dolphin calf swims alongside mom.
2024 07–15 SB Channel
The bright blue sky and wonderful sun opened up as we left the harbor and remained throughout the duration. Seas were fairly calm and glassy but became a tiny bit bumpy with a gentle breeze later in the day. Sightings today included: 4 humpback whales, 3000 common dolphins and 2 ocean sunfish (Mola mola).
South of the oil rigs, we found the first small pod of dolphins and first humpback whale. All were feeding on the abundant baitfish in the area. The humpback, in fact, did some surface side-lunges close to the boat. Very dramatic! In the area we also saw our first ocean sunfish. It was very large.
We ran a bit west and soon we found an oncoming, eastbound, second humpback whale in travel mode. We watched for a while and saw some nice tail flukes. This action was east of the Kelp Farm.
Behind us just a little bit we found two additional single whales separated by 100 yards. They were also moving east. A second big sunfish was seen here.
Moving down to the easternmost oil rigs, we found a megapod of dolphins that was a giant nursery pod. Most of the calves were extremely small, newborn, and still had their fetal folds quite visible. (See today’s photo for an example). There were also 50 California sea lions in this area.
You never know what Mother Nature has in store.
Bob Perry
Condor Express, and
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