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:
The variety of cetaceans sighted this week has been a great example of why the Dana Point is the Dolphin and Whale Watching Capital of the World! This past week we encountered seven different cetacean species including Blue Whale, Fin Whale and Humpback Whale cow/calf pairs!
The Humpback calf put on quite a show breaching for over 30 minutes, and we witnessed one good peduncle throw from the mom. Later, we watched this pair travel and breach and go into playful fits of tail throws for a while. We even got one very close swim by from the calf.
Loggerhead Sea Turtle. Photo Courtesy of Dana Wharf Whale Watching. 
Fin Whale Cow-Calf Pair. Photo Courtesy of Dana Wharf Whale Watching. 
Long-Beaked Common Dolphin. Photo Courtesy of Dana Wharf Whale Watching. 
Offshore Bottlenose Dolphin. Photo Courtesy of Dana Wharf Whale Watching. 
Risso’s Dolphin. Photo Courtesy of Dana Wharf Whale Watching. 
Fin Whale. Photo Courtesy of Dana Wharf Whale Watching. 
Mola Mola. Photo Courtesy of Dana Wharf Whale Watching. 
Blue Whale Cow-Calf Pair. Photo Courtesy of Dana Wharf Whale Watching.
The Blue Whale cow/calf pair was met just outside the Dana Point Harbor as they were traveling north. The Fin Whale cow/calf was seen feeding south of the San Clemente Pier with two Minke Whales joining them. At one point, these whales were all around the Ocean Adventures.
Many other Fin Whale and Minke Whale sighting continue to occur, as they have been feeding off our coast on the abundance of krill for several weeks now. We had to sometimes choose which Fin Whales to observe as there were multiple blows in one area. Curious Fin Whales sometimes turn and swim right at our vessel giving our passengers great looks as they make close passes.
Pods of Risso’s, both Coastal and Offshore Bottlenose, plus Common Dolphin have all been seen feeding on the abundance of bait fish in our water often just a few miles off the coast. Mola Molas are still seen daily feeding on the ever-present By-the-Wind-Sailors. We even spotted a Loggerhead Sea Turtle!
Here is the latest Whale Watching Log from Dana Wharf Whale Watching:
June 1 – 5 Blue Whales, 5 Minke Whales, Common Dolphin, 1 Mola Mola
May 31 – 5 Blue Whales, Common Dolphin, 1 Mola Mola
May 30 – Risso’s Dolphin, Bottlenose Dolphin, Common Dolphin
May 29 – 2 Minke Whales, 1 Humpback Whale, Bottlenose Dolphin, Common Dolphin, 5 Mola Mola
May 28 – 2 Minke Whales, Risso’s Dolphin, Bottlenose Dolphin, Common Dolphin, 10 Mola Mola
May 27 – 13 Fin Whales, Risso’s Dolphin, Common Dolphin, 2 Mola Mola, 1 Loggerhead Turtle
May 26 – 6 Humpback Whales including 1 Cow-Calf pair, 2 Blue Whales including 1 Cow-Calf pair, Common Dolphin, 2 Mola Mola,
May 25 – 5 Fin Whales, 4 Mola Mola, 1 Humpback Whale, Risso’s Dolphin, Minke Whale, Common Dolphin, Bottlenose Dolphin
May 24 – 7 Fin Whales, 3 Mola Mola, 2 Minke Whales, Common Dolphin, Bottlenose Dolphin
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