It’s Almost Time for Whale Watching Again

It’s a little early in the month for the pods of California gray whales to pass Southern California’s coastline on their annual migration from the summer feeding grounds in the Bering Sea to the shallow warm “calving” lagoons of Baja California. State Fish and Game biologist Christine Anderson believes we can expect the giant mammals toward the end of the month, and that being only a couple of weeks away, you might start preparing yourselves for a whale watching party on your own vessel or on one of the many boats that take out whale watching parties.

A DFG spotter in an airplane reported last Tuesday no evidence yet of whales passing Point Conception. I’ve always felt that this rugged headland south of Lompoc, which Richard Henry Dana called “the Cape Horn of California,” marks the border between Northern and Southern California. Northwest winds can be whooping it up, with rough seas, above Point Conception, but below the point, where the coastline turns from its general north-south lay to east and west, pleasant weather can be the rule. Except for spillover of wind around Point Conception in two split directions, down our coast and out to the Channel Islands (known as the Catalina eddy), the Pacific here is far more pacific than above the point.

About 13,000 grays make the trip each each year. Many come close to shore on their way south. The gray whale population was estimated at about 30,000 in the middle of the last century. Excessive commercial whaling activities before 1946 reduced their numbers to about 6,000. Since the California whale was placed on the endangered species list and commercial whaling in the U.S. was banned in 1946, the gray whale population has staged a comeback. Some scientists believe the population may be increasing by as much as 10% a year.

Latest reports indicate the first groups of grays are below Monterey. There is, however, an apparently young gray of about 30 feet in length who has been seen swimming in and out of Los Angeles Harbor. Described by one marine biologist as an “activist,” it may grow a little lonely waiting for its companions. Grays are a sociable lot, carrying on a mysterious underwater conversation with each other, sounding something like an operatic soprano gone mad, screeching, humming and clicking. John Scholl, a DFG biologist specializing in marine mammals, says the whales’ return trip, usually farther offshore, begins in March and continues through early May. Gray whales seem to migrate, he says, in definite order. When heading south, pregnant females leave the Bering Sea first, followed by other females and the young, then the males.

“They seem to follow oceanic contours,” said Scholl, and often these contours lure them to within 400 feet of the shoreline. Their average speed is from seven to eight knots, so their 6,000-mile yearly trip down the coast amounts to a leisurely cruise, taking time out for food along the way. Feeding whales can often be spotted by a massive cloud of mud on the water surface, stirred up by the animals as they grub along the bottom.

An adult gray whale can live to be more than 50 years old, can grow to 50 feet in length and will often weigh as much as 45 tons, Scholl said. Groups or pods of grays traveling together may number as many as 14, but normally they are seen in groups of three.

Laguna Beach, Crescent Bay Point Park and Heisler Park are Orange County spots with good bluff-top viewing for whale watching. Dana Point provides ample parking along Scenic Drive and Dana Strand and at Sal Creek Beach Park. The park is closed during the winter, but the path to the beach is open all year. Whale watching from the bluff overlooking the beach should be productive. Some scientists believe that Dana Point may be a navigational aid for the grays, causing them to come closer to shore than usual.

Catalina Passenger Service has whale-watching boats departing from the Balboa Peninsula at the Balboa Pavilion. For information, call 673-5245. Day trips to local waters for whale watching include Dana Wharf Sportfishing, phone 496-5794.

Here’s a brief schedule of Christmas boat parades: Dana Point, Friday and Saturday, beginning at dusk; Huntington Harbour, Dec. 15-23, 5:30-8:30 p.m.; Newport Beach, Dec. 17-23, beginning at 6:30 p.m.; Oceanside, Dec. 20, 7 p.m.; Alamitos Bay, Dec. 20, 6:30 p.m.