Dana Wharf Whale Report: 16 Gray Whales Spotted in One Day as Baja Run Continues

Every week, Dana Wharf Sportfishing & Whale Watching provides the Dana Point Times and San Clemente Times a report on the week’s whale and dolphin sightings from naturalist Laura Lopez, in addition to a weekly log.

Here is Lopez’s report for the past week:

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Sunday, Feb. 5, started with a breacher in front of the Dana Point Harbor. The cloudy skies turned to sunshine, and soon after, a cow/calf pair was heading south close to shore. We were mugged multiple times on several trips, saw likely courting behavior, spy hops and much more!  Most of the gray whale sightings have been adults traveling south in small groups of two-to-four animals. The gray whale cow/calf pairs continue to be spotted close to shore often as we are leaving or returning to the Dana Point Harbor.

This week we have begun to see northbound gray whales as they start heading up our coast to return to their feeding grounds. We had one gray whale surface just feet of the port side of the New San Mateo on our epic Whale Watching four-hour adventure. We were about 10 miles offshore and several miles south of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station.

There were fin whale sightings several days this past week. On our Pelagic Bird trip about 20 miles off our coast as we were headed to the Crespi Knoll seamount, we spotted four fin whales heading south.   There were also multiple sightings closer to shore where these whales appeared to be feeding. During these sightings, the fin whales usually blew once before taking extended dives in shallow water. 

Other sightings include three species of dolphin including Pacific white-sided, bottlenose and common dolphin, plus several mola mola and a Mako shark.

Here is the latest Whale Watching Log from Dana Wharf Whale Watching:

Feb. 9 – 3 Gray Whales and Common Dolphin

Feb. 8 – Risso’s Dolphin, Bottlenose Dolphin, Common Dolphin

Feb. 7 – 7 Gray Whales, Pacific White-sided Dolphin, Common Dolphin

Feb. 6 – Common Dolphin, Mola Mola

Feb. 5 –  16 Gray Whales, including Cow/Calf pair, Bottlenose Dolphin, Mola Mola

Feb. 4 – 9 Gray Whales, Pacific White-sided Dolphin, Bottlenose Dolphin, Common Dolphin

Feb. 3 – 4 Gray Whales, 4 Fin Whales, Bottlenose Dolphin, Common Dolphin, 15 Mola Mola, Mako Shark

Feb. 2 – 2 Fin Whale, Bottlenose Dolphin, Common Dolphin

Feb. 1 – Common Dolphin, Bottlenose Dolphin