FESTIVALS & EVENTS : A WHALE OF A TIME : Finally, There’s Big Reason to Celebrate at Dana Point’s Annual Homage to Marine Mammals

At a time when environmental horror stories dominate the headlines, Dana Point has found cause for celebration in the story of one creature that was thought to be near extinction but now seems to be doing just swimmingly.

The Pacific gray whale, whose numbers dwindled to fewer than 2,500 under intense hunting, has rebounded to a population now estimated at more than 21,000. In an action supported by biologists and environmental groups, the National Marine Fisheries Service has proposed taking the marine mammal off the endangered species list.

“The gray whales represent one of the singular success stories in the endangered species saga,” says Stanley L. Cummings, executive director of the Orange County Marine Institute in Dana Point Harbor and chairman of the Festival of Whales committee.

The 21st annual Festival of Whales, opening Friday and continuing through March 8, includes whale-watch cruises and educational exhibits at the Marine Institute, along with a street fair, classical concert, golf tournament and fireworks show.

Other events: a boat parade, a sailing regatta, a bike hill climb, a longboard surf contest, a 5-kilometer run and an exhibit featuring a robotic model of a prehistoric relative of the whale.

The marine institute, which helps educate some 90,000 children a year about the sea through school and extra-curricular programs, was host to the Festival of Whales until last year. “It became too big an event” for the institute to handle by itself, Cummings says, and organization was turned over to the city. Dana Point this year is giving $50,000 to help put on the event, and the Dana Point Harbor Assn. is giving another $10,000.

Cummings says the festival will be considerably larger than past events. Once confined to the harbor, the event has now spread to sites throughout the recently created city of Dana Point, and organizers are hoping for more than 100,000 visitors during the 17-day festival.

At the center of the hoopla is the Pacific gray whale, which can weigh up to 45 tons, reach lengths of 50 feet and live as long as 60 years. Each winter, they migrate some 6,000 miles from Arctic waters where they feed, south to the warm waters off Baja California, where they breed and spawn. They make the return trip and are back north by spring.

The whales’ passage within a few miles--sometimes within a few hundred yards--of the Southern California coast--has spawned a whale-watching industry that brings in an estimated $35 million a year. Off the local coast, the migration season is spread out from December to April. The peak for seeing southbound whales is late January; the peak for the northbound migrants is late February.

Pacific grays were about 15,000 to 20,000 strong, naturalists estimate, before hunting began in the 1840s. They were driven to near-extinction by the 1930s.

The whaling past will be commemorated as part of the festival, with the tall ship Pilgrim in Dana Point Harbor outfitted as an old whaling vessel and volunteers in costume singing sea shanties and educating visitors about the early days of whaling.

Cummings says that some have accused the institute of “glorifying” whaling with the program, but he argues that it was an important part of history that deserves to be explored. “You have to understand the culture of that time,” he says. “Back in that culture, it was a very noble, a very dangerous profession.”

The comeback of the Pacific gray has happened not only because of restrictions on whaling--first imposed in 1947--but also because the government of Mexico has worked to protect the whales’ favorite spawning areas.

As part of Dana Point’s Festival of Whales, more than 20 coastal cities, along with the state and federal governments, will honor Mexico’s contribution to saving the Pacific gray whale in a ceremony Feb. 29, aboard the tall ship Californian, which will sail from Los Angeles to Dana Point as the “ambassador ship” for the Festival of Whales.

The festival will keep an environmental theme throughout, Cummings says. Part of the proceeds from the golf tournament and other athletic events will be given to the Surfrider Foundation, a Huntington Beach-based national organization dedicated to cleaning up beaches and coastal waters.

Any money raised through the festival will go toward the group’s Blue Water Task Force, which is aiming to provide surfers and other beach users with kits for testing ocean water for pollution, according to executive director Jake Grubb. The task force is part of the Surfrider Foundation’s 1992 Coastal Environmental Action Program, for which the group is trying to raise $199,000.

Following is a list of festival events, with sites, days and times. On weekends, parking will be free at Dana Strand and Salt Creek Beach Park, on Coast Highway north of Dana Point, and at Dana Hills High School, 33333 Street of the Golden Lantern. Free shuttle service will be available on weekends between three parking lots and event sites. Limited parking will be available at some event sites.

Phone numbers are provided for many of the events below. For details on other events, or for information on parking, call (714) 496-1555.

* Orange County Marine Institute. On display at the institute, 35502 Del Obispo Road, will be a half-scale rendition of a basilosaurus, an early cousin to modern whales that lived in the Eocene era, 37 million to 58 million years ago. The model was made by Dinamation, a county-based firm specializing in robotic dinosaur displays for museums.

The tall ship Pilgrim will be outfitted as an old whaling vessel as part of a program called “Whaling and the Arts of the Sailor.” The institute will be open daily, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free. Information: (714) 496-2274.

* Whale-watching excursions. Tours leave daily from Dana Point Harbor, Pacific Coast Highway and Dana Point Harbor Drive, throughout whale-watching season (December to April). Rates and times vary; for information, call (714) 496-5794 or (714) 248-7400.

* Street fair and art show. Art displays, food booths, music and environmental exhibits will be featured on two weekends, Feb. 29 and March 1, and March 7 and 8, La Plaza Park, 24681 La Plaza Road. Hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and admission is free. Information: (714) 496-1555.

* Golf tournament. A celebrity pro/am tournament will benefit the Surfrider Foundation. A reception for players, celebrities and guests will take place Friday from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel, 33533 Ritz-Carlton Drive.

The tournament itself will take place Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Links at Monarch Bay, 33080 Niguel Road. An awards banquet will follow from 6:30 to 10 p.m. at the Dana Point Resort, 25135 Street of the Park Lantern. To play golf and attend both the reception and banquet, the price tag is $250. Tickets to the opening reception are $35, and tickets to the banquet are $75. Information: (714) 361-6838.

* Capistrano Valley Symphony. The orchestra has two concerts planned as part of the festival. A free concert featuring nautically themed music “for children of all ages” is planned Saturday at 2 p.m. at the Capistrano Bay Parks and Recreation Department Community Center, 34052 Del Obispo Road.

The orchestra will also perform in the Grand Ballroom of the Dana Point Resort, Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets are $10. Information for both concerts: (714) 661-2962.

* Fun Run. A 5-kilometer run sponsored by the Dana Point Civic Assn. will begin at Salt Creek (off Coast Highway near Ritz-Carlton Drive) at 8 a.m., Feb. 29. Entry fee is $15. Information: (714) 496-6895.

* Kite exhibitions. A local kite shop will offer free aerial demonstrations at Doheny State Beach, 25300 Dana Point Harbor Drive, Feb. 29 and March 1 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

* Regatta. The Dana Point Yacht Club is host for a sailing event involving all three harbor yacht clubs: Dana Point, Dana West and Capistrano Bay. The event is March 1 from noon to 4 p.m.

* Windsurfing exhibitions. The free spectator event will be offered March 1 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Dana Point Harbor.

* Longboard surf contest. Some of the state’s best longboarders are expected to compete in a contest March 7 from 6:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The location, either Doheny Beach or Salt Creek, will be announced the evening before the event, which is hosted by the Doheny Longboard Assn.

* Sand-sculpting contest. Individuals and teams will take part in the contest, March 7 from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Doheny Beach. Sign-up begins at 7 a.m. and the entry fee is $10 per team. Spectators are welcome.

* Bike hill climb. Bikers will take a sprint up one of the steepest hills in Dana Point, climbing from the harbor to the bluff tops, in a race that will be officiated by the United States Cycling Federation. While this is the first year the event is part of the Festival of Whales, the ride (two-fifths of a mile) has been the site of previous races. The current course record is 59 seconds.

The event is on Cove Road at the west end of Dana Point Harbor on March 8, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.; entry fee is $10. Information: (714) 368-2976.

* Boat parade. Members of the Dana West Yacht Club juniors program will parade through the harbor in boats decorated in a whale theme, Feb. 29 from 10:30 a.m. to noon.

* Film festival. Harpoon Henry’s Seafood Restaurant, 34555 Street of the Golden Lantern, will screen environmentally themed features and documentaries each day of the festival from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free. Information: (714) 493-2933

* Scuba demonstration. Free demonstrations will be offered in the pool of the Best Western Marina Inn, 24800 Dana Point Harbor Drive, each day of the festival from noon to 3:30 p.m. Bring a swimsuit and towel.

* Finale. A festival finale, with music and fireworks, is being planned for March 8. Details will be announced.

What: 21st annual Festival of Whales.

When: Friday, Feb. 21, through March 8.

Where: At sites throughout Dana Point.

Whereabouts: Take the Santa Ana (5) Freeway to the Camino Las Ramblas exit and go south. Turn left on Dana Point Harbor Drive to go to the harbor; to get to a shuttle lot, continue on Camino Las Ramblas to Selva Road and turn left.

Wherewithal: Many events are free. Other events range from $10 to $15 (entry in the golf tournament is $250).

Where to call: (714) 496-1555.

Festival of Whales Sites 1. Whale-watching Excursions 2. “Green Screen” Film Fest 3. Robotic Whale Exhibit 4. Orange County Marine Institute programs and excursions 5. Scuba Experience 6. 1992 Celebrity Pro/Am Golf Tournament 7. Harbor Patrol Demonstrations 8. Children’s and Senior’s Concert 9. Festival of Whales Classical Concert 10. Poetry Reading 11. 5K Fun Run 12. Windsurfing Exhibitions 13. Kite Exhibitions 14. StreetFaire and Art Show 15. Boat Parade 16. Harbor Patrol Demonstrations 17. Tall Ship Californian 18. 1st Series Regatta 19. Poetry Reading 20. Longboard Surf Contest 21. Sand Sculpturing Contest 22. Bike hill Climb 23. Whale of a Parade 24. StreetFaire and Art Show 25. Poetry Reading Source: Dana Point Festival of Whales