I have been wanting to go on a whale watching ship adventure for almost 4 years now. Then a couple weeks ago I saw an ad in AAA magazine promoting The Festival of Whales in Dana Point.
The incredible 5000-mile migration of the majestic California Gray Whale from Alaska to Mexico begins in December and continues through March. During this peak season, 40 - 50 whales pass by Dana Point each day, using the Dana Point Headland's 200-foot cliffs near the harbor as a landmark to check their migration path. Dana Point offers the BEST whale watching along the California Coast - don't miss it!
Nope, I wasn't going to miss this opportunity even if it rain. I studied the weather all week, the weather man was calling for rain but I was watching the patterns of rain and I was thinking if we went on Saturday we'd miss the rain.
*high five* I was right we timed it just right and missed the rain. It wasn't a warm day in Dana Point but it was comfortable. We started our excursion at the Ocean Institute. They had a Wyland art exhibit there which I liked. They had various science and biology experiments that the kids could touch and learn from and the tide pools were a blast to look at. We had an hour before boarding the ship so we decided to eat lunch first. At 1:30pm we were ready to board the whale research vessel...the Sea Explorer. The Captain warned us that the weather was making the seas "violent" out past the breakers that guarded the inlet. Anyone wanting to turn back now would be given a full refund. Nope...we're doing it. Like Gilligan's crew headed out for a 3 hour tour!
We had the best seats on the boat. While everyone else scrambled for the bow in the beginning, they soon learned that the bow was the last place they wanted to be in choppy seas. They all scrambled for the inside of the boat (the worst place to be). We however, stayed glued to our seats on the left side near the stern. Even in the choppiest of water those seats felt smooth.
Isabella was a nervous nelly, she cried that "Poseidon was angry" and she looked for signs of tsunami's. We saw 2 different dolphin pods. First the Pacific White Sided Dolphin group played with the boat and did some wonderful bow riding for quite some time. We got up from our seats and went to the bow to watch.
Pacific white-sided dolphins could be considered the most beautiful of dolphins seen in Dana Point. With an almost air-brushed appearance, it is difficult to mistake them. They are black on top, white on the bottom, with whitish swirls and streaks along their flanks. They have a short black beak, a dark ring around their eyes, and a black and gray dorsal fin that is sharply curved (or falcate.) Pacific white-sided dolphins strongly resemble Dusky Dolphins which are only found in the southern hemisphere and therefore do not pose an identification problem. Near Dana Point, they are most often found in small pods of 10-50, but in other regions are found in much larger numbers.
Then we sat in the choppy seas for almost 30-45 minutes waiting for more sitings. Apparently the Captain couldn't move too far too fast because he was trying not to get everyone on board sick.
A Sun fish passed by. It looked like a dead sting ray.
Then a call from another boat came out. 3 spouts from the grey whales had been spotted. Captain Mike put the boat in high gear and we raced for the whales location. On the way some common dolphins decided to bow ride with us as well. They were some crazy dolphins.
The name "common dolphin" actually refers to two species of dolphins: the short-beaked common dolphin (Delphinus delphis) and the long-beaked common dolphin (Delphinus capensis.) They can be very difficult to tell apart, but the main differences are the size of the beak and the size of the black line that goes from chin to pectoral fin. Typically, off the coast of Dana Point, we find more short-beaked common dolphins. At times, these dolphins are found in tremendously large pod sizes of 5000 or more. On the Sea Explorer, there have been days when you could not see the end of the pod on all sides of the boat. Common dolphins are always a favorite for kids (and adults too!) because of their outrageous behavior. Common dolphins frequently leap 6 or more feet out of the water, splashing down on their sides. They are also seen tail-walking, breaching, tail-slapping, mating, and feeding.
We headed over closer to the location of the whales and we managed to see a blow spout from the whales but not much more. Apparently there were 3 whales together but after being watched by 3-4 boats they were being evasive and were not coming up to the surface often.
After two and a half hours we headed back to dock. We had a great time and almost immediately upon docking the kids were thanking us for an awesome adventure. They have realized that not everyone gets these cool natural adventures that we like to do in Southern California.
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