DAILY SIGHTINGS

Spectacular sea conditions graced the channel, making it a perfect day for some whale watching. Captain Adam took us to the separation zone in the shipping lanes where he found two humpback whales. The whales were chasing a pod of about 100 dolphins. The dolphins lead the way to the food while the whales followed suit! Giant tail flukes were seen by all as we enjoyed a beautiful day in SB paradise. Until Next Time, The SBWW Crew

Pacific white sided dolphins have become a rare sighting in Southern California over the past few years. These beautiful dolphins used to be a common sighting every winter and spring in the channel, but have been MIA the past few years. In fact, yesterday was Captain Devin's first encounter with them in over 5 years! These dolphins have an expansive range, from the Aleutian Islands to the tip of Baja, so who’s to say what has caused their disappearance in recent years. Finger

PERFECT sea conditions lead us to a whole heap of whales today. We probably had 10 whales in the area today, most were pretty melow, matching the calmness of the sea. That is until our last pair, who were as friendly as they get! The pair pirouetted under the bow for close to 30 minutes, staring our guests eye to eye. Nothing is as awe inspiring as a 35 foot whale staring you face to face. Until Next Time, The SBWW Crew

The wind and swell are a bit persistent this time of year which is pretty typical as we approach the spring months. Nevertheless Captain Devin ran a great trip today finding 3 humpbacks, 3 gray whales, and 25 common dolphins! Until Next Time, The SBWW Crew

Off the coast of UCSB Captain Devin found a load of life! 11 Humpbacks, 300 common dolphins, and an unlimited number of blue sharks were feeding in the area. A juvenile whale breached near the boat to cap off an exciting day in the SBC! Until Next Time, The SBWW Crew

We enjoyed a beautiful day in the channel with a light wind chop. Our first whales of the day consisted of a pair of large adults. The whales were very lethargic at the surface, logging for long periods of time. These whales most likely had a big feed the day prior. FOOD COMA! Our next humpback was another adult with scarring along its body. We managed to snag a picture of the whale with snow on the top of the Santa Ynez Mountains, a rare combo for Santa Barbara. Soon we got

(This blog occurred on 2-13-2026) WHAT A DAY! It all came together today as we spent 3 hours of our 3.5-hour trip with whales and dolphins. The day started with birdnado after birdnado, as has been typical the last week or so. Then whale spouts EVERYWHERE, a nice change of pace from yesterday's encounter. Whales are fast-moving animals, and things in the ocean are constantly dynamic. These humpbacks moved in overnight into the area; all of our life had been the day before. Wh

The forecasted small craft advisory was pushed back further into the day. The weather was beautiful and the seas calm. We searched far and wide for whales and dolphins today. After checking a nearby feeding ground just off the coast, we sent it east after some reports of whales days prior. We've had some high winds the past two days, which can sometimes "push" the whales around. As was the case today, as we struggled to find whales early on. Nearly 70 miles later, we came acr

We encountered a very active group of 2,000+ common dolphins on today's trip, as well as 3 humpback whales in the mix. All of the life was concentrated in one square mile area today. Birds dove as dolphins leaped out of the water, and the whale's tails rose from the depths. Further outside, we found a single humpback that was tricky to get looks at. We also encountered a nice concentrated area with 7+ blue sharks in it! Until Next Time, The SBWW Crew

It feels like summer! We had sensational sightings today courtesy of the Santa Barbara Channel. Most of the whales we watched today were TINY! Most likely, some yearlings have been hanging around looking for a bite to eat. They certainly found it today as Birdnado after Birdnado lit up the horizon. These flocks of seagulls, pelicans, and cormorants found an endless buffet of anchovies to eat, corralled by the dolphins and whales aplenty. We watched as the small whales continu

A beautiful February day in the channel yielded humpback whales and common dolphins. All of our whales were found smack dab in the middle of the shipping lanes. Our first whale was a subadult on a mission! It was traveling east at a consistent 4 knots, coming up for 3 breaths at a time, before putting up its massive flukes. Next, we watched a pair of whales. They shared some interest in the boat as they repeatedly showed up on our sonar right below us before popping up behind

A whole smorgasborg of cetacea were seen on today's trip; 4 cetacean species in totality! Captain Adam led us west towards the western end of Santa Cruz Island. Before reaching the painted cave, we spent time with our first cetacean species of the day. ~15 dall's porpoise sped across our bow. They weaved in and out between us and spent a good amount of time bow riding. Nearby a small juvenile humpback gave us a few nice looks. We visited the world-famous painted cave and had

A stunning winter day, packed with an eventful agenda! After these crazy winter storms we've been having, debris was everywhere in the channel. Logs, bushes, sticks, and the occasional human garbage riddled the channel. Our first sighting of the day was a pair of humpbacks. The sub-adult pair fluked continuously as they headed west in the channel. We watched as a pair of large container ships passed by in the distance, adhering to the 10 knot voluntary speed reduction request

Another one of those incredible December days. A bit of a bump from yesterday's high winds resided in the channel, but didn't stop us from finding a whole bunch of marine life! Captain Devin reports incredible marine sightings. 7 humpback whales, 10 Dall's porpoise, and 100 common dolphins are a great way to start any trip. But ending the trip with a friendly pod of killer whales was THE BEST way to end it. On the way home, we happened upon a group of killer whales known as t

Just one of those days! Captain Devin found the Killer Whale pod, the CA51A's, on a beautiful day in the channel. We last saw these whales in June of 2024. The whales had clearly killed some sort of prey, most likely a sea lion or common dolphin, and were sharing the prey below the surface. Out of nowhere, 3 humpback whales soon began to harass the killer whales. For hours, the same pattern of killer whales coming to the surface to breathe, followed by humpback whales chasing