Time for a Whale of an Outing : Excursions: Through mid-April, landlubbers can take to the seas to observe the migration of the Pacific gray whale.

If you’ve been bobbing around on your whale-watching boat for an hour or so without any success and you spot an unremarkable-looking mottled brown-and-white lump in the water, don’t look away. It isn’t debris, or kelp, or a rock.

It’s what you came to see. And if you’re lucky, in a few minutes something spectacular may happen.

It takes a certain eye to be a good whale watcher--not necessarily to spot the great beasts but to know what you’re seeing when one appears. After all, when a Pacific gray whale leaves its natural habitat and enters ours, the visit may last only a few seconds.

Not that there’s a lack of such behavior these days. From late December through mid-April each year, thousands of the gray whales, many of them pregnant, migrate from the Arctic Circle to the lagoons of Baja California, swimming 10,000 to 15,000 miles to give birth in the warmer, southern waters. In the process, they put on a show that has fascinated Southern Californians for generations.

So we take to the waves in droves, waiting to spot some of the largest mammals on Earth. But when we spot a Pacific gray whale, it’s likely we won’t see anything very gray.

“They aren’t gray from a distance,” said Larry Fukuhara, program director at the Cabrillo Marine Museum in San Pedro. “The babies are gray, but the adults pick up barnacles and scars over the years, and when the barnacles fall off they turn the whale’s skin white. If you see them through the water, though, they have a bluish color.”

The first time you’re likely to spot a whale, Fukuhara said, is when it breathes. Rolling its back above the surface, the whale expels water through its blowhole, shooting the water up to 10 feet in the air with a whuff ing sound.

“It looks like smoke,” Fukuhara said, “and they do it almost every time they surface.”

There is no rule of behavior governing breathing, but there is sort of a pattern, Fukuhara said. Generally a gray whale will breathe and disappear below the surface for about a minute, then repeat the process. After the third appearance, the whale will make a deep dive that lasts for two to eight minutes. As this dive begins, the whale will typically flip its tail--its fluke--into the air, a maneuver eagerly awaited by watchers with cameras.

Whales also break the surface as part of a behavior called spyhopping, Fukuhara said.

“They come out of the water (vertically), clear their eyes and come right back down,” he said. “Nobody really knows why they do it, but it’s seen very seldom, even less than breaching.”

Breaching, for the whale watcher, is the big prize. It occurs after the whale accelerates to about 30 knots under water and bursts vertically into the air, finally falling sideways back into the sea with a huge splash (an adult gray is up to 50 feet long and can weigh as much as 45 tons).

“It takes thousands of horsepower to get them out of the water like that,” Fukuhara said. “It may be a form of communication. Also, they have a lot of parasites on them and it may be a way to knock them off. Or maybe they’re just having fun.”

Another phenomenon to look for, even if you can’t see any whales--yet: “footprints” left on the surface of the water. When a whale submerges, telltale rings of disturbed water remain for a few minutes, rather like the glassy patches left by the wakes of ships.

Perhaps the most convenient way to go whale watching is aboard a commercial boat. But if you’re going it on your own, there are laws to keep in mind.

Because it is believed that boats motoring too close to the migrating whales will affect their behavior, federal law stipulates that no craft come within 1,000 yards of a migrating whale, Fukuhara said. Also, it is illegal for a boat operator to cut across a whale’s natural path or to attempt to separate a whale from a group. Too-close attention by watchers in motorboats also may affect the whales’ underwater communication.

What to bring? Rubber-soled shoes, warm clothes, possibly binoculars or a camera (fast film is recommended).

And an eye for the particulars of the world’s longest migration.

Join an Excursion to See the Whales

Whale-watching excursions are offered at several locations in Los Angeles and Orange counties. Many trips are narrated by experts in the study of sea mammals, and reservations are usually required. Group rates are often available, as are “whale checks”--free passes for another trip if no cetaceans (including porpoises and dolphins) are spotted. Many of these firms offer cruises that are not designed for whale watching, so specify the kind of excursion you want.

San Pedro

Los Angeles Harbor Sports Fishing, Berth 79, Ports O’ Call Village. Weekdays, 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.; weekends, 9 a.m., 11:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. $10 adults, $7 children 12 and under. Weekday early bird special at 10 a.m. for $5, weekends 9 a.m. for $6. Reservations: (213) 547-9916.

Spirit Cruises, Berth 75, Ports O’ Call Village. Weekdays, 11 a.m.; weekends, 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. $12.50 weekends, $10 weekdays with reservations. Call (213) 831-1073.

Los Angeles Harbor Cruises, Village Boat House, Berth 77, Ports O’ Call Village. Weekends, 11:30 a.m. and 2 p.m., with a 9 a.m. cruise on Saturday. Weekdays, 11:30 a.m. if enough reservations are received. $12 adults, $5 children 2 through 12, under 2 free. For 9 a.m. Saturday cruise, $9 adults, $3 children. Reservations: (213) 831-0996 or 831-0599.

Buccaneer-Mardi Gras Cruises, Berth 76, Ports O’ Call Village. Weekends only, times vary. Champagne brunch on Buccaneer Queen, replica of 18th-Century pirate ship. $25 for meal and cruise. Reservations: (213) 548-1085.

Pilgrim, replica of American Revolutionary War ship, Berth 76, Ports O’ Call Village. Weekends, 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. $12.50 adults, $7 children 12 and under. Reservations: (213) 547-0941.

Skipper’s 22nd Street Landing, 141 W. 22nd St., San Pedro. Weekdays, 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.; weekends, 9 a.m., 11:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. Weekdays, $10 adults, $7 children 12 and under and seniors 62 and over; weekends, $11 adults, $8 children and seniors. Reservations: (213) 832-8304.

Redondo Beach

Redondo Sportfishing, King Harbor, 233 N. Harbor Drive. Weekdays, 10 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.; weekends, 9:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Weekdays $7.50; weekends $10 adults, $7.50 children 11 and under. Reservations: (213) 372-2111.

Long Beach

Catalina Cruises, Catalina Landing, 320 Golden Shore Drive, Long Beach Harbor. Weekends, 10 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.; occasional 10 a.m. weekday cruises. $12 adults, $11 seniors 55 and over, $10 children 5 through 11, $3 children under 5 if purchased in advance at the terminal or on first-come, first-served basis an hour before the cruise departs. Information: (213) 514-3838. Reservations available at a higher cost through Ticketmaster: (213) 480-3232 or (714) 740-2000.

Belmont Pier Sport Fishing, Ocean Boulevard and Termino Avenue. Weekends, 9 a.m. and 1 p.m.; weekdays, 10 a.m. if sufficient reservations are made. Weekends, $9 adults, $7 children 12 and under; weekdays, $7 adults, $5 children. Reservations: (213) 434-6781.

Long Beach Sportfishing, Queen’s Wharf Landing, 555 Pico Ave., Berth 55, Long Beach Harbor. Daily, 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. $9.50 adults, $6.50 juniors 15 and under and seniors 62 and over. Reservations: (213) 432-8993.

Star Party Cruises, 140 Marina Drive. Daily, 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. $12 adults, $10 seniors 55 and over, $8 children 12 and under. Reservations: (213) 431-6833 or (213) 428-3782.

Newport Beach

Davey’s Locker, Balboa Pavilion, 400 Main St., Balboa Peninsula. Weekdays, 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.; weekends and holidays, 9 a.m., noon and 2:30 p.m. $10 adults, $6 children 12 and under. Company also offers Parasail Whale Watching, during which passengers are pulled through the air above the migrating whales, suspended under a parasail launched from a boat deck. Parasail boat limited to 6 passengers. Five trips daily from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Price is $39 after noon; early bird special price of $30 on 9 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. trips. Reservations for whale watching and parasailing: (714) 673-1434.

Catalina Passenger Service, Balboa Pavilion. Catalina Flyer, 500-passenger catamaran, sails Monday-Wednesday, 10 a.m. $10 adults, $6 children 12 and under. Reservations: (714) 673-5245.

Newport Landing Sportfishing, Balboa Peninsula between Adams and Palm streets, near the ferry. Weekends, 9 a.m., noon and 2:30 p.m.; weekdays, 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. $10 adults, $6 children 12 and under (also $6 for seniors 60 and older on weekdays). Reservations: (714) 675-0550.

Dana Point

Dana Wharf Sportfishing, 34675 Street of the Golden Lantern. Every day, 10 a.m., noon and 2 p.m.; occasional additional cruise on weekends at 8 a.m. $10 adults, $6 children 12 and under (also $6 for seniors 62 and older on weekdays). Last weekend in February and first two weekends in March, cruises leave hourly from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Reservations: (714) 496-5794.

Orange County Marine Institute, 24200 Dana Point Harbor Drive. Weekends, 8 a.m., 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. A slide show and lecture at 7 a.m. precedes the first cruise (early bird photography special). $12 adults, $9 children 4 to 12. Reservations: (714) 496-2274.