Whale Takes Fluke Rest Stop Inside Dana Point Harbor

A young, 25-foot gray whale spent a lazy Tuesday afternoon resting in Dana Point Harbor, entertaining curious whale watchers and marine experts.

The whale, about a year or two old, seemed to be healthy and just looking for a place to relax as it migrated north.

“It appeared about 11 o’clock, just lolling in the kelp off the end of the harbor,” said Stan Cummings, director of the Orange County Marine Institute in Dana Point. “Originally, they (naturalists) thought it was sick, but it doesn’t appear to be stressed.”

The leviathan entered the channel between the south jetty and Harbor Island but never went as far as Dana Cove inside the harbor, where the Marine Institute and the 1830s-replica ship Pilgrim are located.

By midafternoon, the whale left the harbor and started to move slowly north. It was seen swimming off Salt Creek Beach Park near the Ritz-Carlton about 3 p.m.

“He was just wonderful all day,” said Linda Cognito, charter director for Dana Wharf Sportfishing. “I think he was just resting, thinking he was in a lagoon. He certainly wasn’t in a hurry to go anywhere.”

Tuesdays are slow days in the harbor, so the big mammal wasn’t bothered by too many people. Dana Wharf Sportfishing happened to have a whale-watching boat out at the time, so its crew did not even have to leave the harbor to entertain the passengers.

“About every other year, one approaches the harbor” and sometimes comes inside, even as far as the cove, Cummings said.

Whales have already finished their southern migration, he said, so this one was probably returning north a bit early, in no rush to arrive in arctic waters.