Whales

For Christmas this past year, one of my gifts to Laura was a whale watching tour…for 2 of course. I’ve never gone whale watching so I was ready to go and share the experience with Laura. It was her first time too. Plus, I absolutely LOVE watching her excitement over seeing wildlife. But did we see any whales, besides me?

Of course we did! And somehow, I managed to pick the tour that offers a full bar. And since we took the morning tour, blood mary’s were on tap. It must be a sixth sense I have. We were definitely out of place with families and their young-ins’ running around us.

Round 1

Double fisting waiting to see a whale

Headed out to the ocean

It was schedule as 3.5 hour tour. I think it took 20-30 minutes to make it out of the harbor and track down whales. It’s not as random of a trip as one might think. “Whale season” in San Diego lasts from December to April. We learned that each year, over 20,000 gray whales make a 10,000 mile round-trip journey from Alaska to the lagoons of Baja California, where the females give birth to their calves. They typically spend several months in the warm Baja California waters, time for their young to grow strong enough to make the journey home, before making their way back north again in the Spring. It is the longest known distance any mammal migrates on an annual basis. It’s truly an extraordinary spectacle to observe.

Whales come up for 2-3 breaths before diving down again. We were lucky enough to see a few blowholes up close and their tails as the dove down again.

The tour was ending and the captain comes over the speaker. “Does anyone need to be back on time? We just got a report there is a group of 6 whales together – it’s out of the way but if no one needs to be back right away, we’ll extend the trip to go see this group”

Laura jumped so high with excitement, I had to grab her from falling over board! “MORE WHALES DAVE, AHHHH!”