Call them whale watchers

Andrew Edwards

The time for children to look to the skies for flying reindeer has

come and gone, but California gray whales are on their way to

Southern California.

Whale-watching season in Newport Beach opened Sunday, with tours

embarking from the Balboa Peninsula to search for any gray whales or

dolphins swimming along the local coastline.

“We’ll just travel down the coast until we find one, and then

we’ll follow him,” said Jacob Tollison, who captains the Nautilus,

one of Newport Landing’s four whale-watching craft.

The chances of finding a whale or dolphin are usually pretty good,

Tollison said, estimating the chance of seeing either creature at

90%.

The first day of whale watching started slowly. Davey’s Locker

sold only two tickets to their first excursion, said Jeff Patrick,

captain of the Western Pride. Patrick and his guests spied some

dolphins on their tour but no whales.

“We just need more people to come out,” Patrick said, suggesting

that if the Western Pride had more eyes on board, there would be a

greater chance of finding a whale.

Later trips were more successful. People on a noontime tour aboard

Bill Scott’s boat, The Reveille, found two whales and a pod of

Pacific white-sided dolphins, passenger Donna Drake said.

Drake, a docent with the American Cetacean Society, said she goes

whale watching about three times each week. The trick to finding a

whale, she said, is to watch for the animals as they come up to

breathe and send water shooting from their blowholes.

“What we see is the blow, the famous blow of a whale,” Drake said.

Once a passenger sees the whale come up to breathe, they can

usually catch a glimpse of 10% to 20% of the whale’s body.

Newport’s whale-watching businesses cooperate with one another to

search for whales. Newport Landing, Davey’s Locker and Scott, who is

contracted to the Fun Zone Boat Company, let one another know where

sightings have happened.

“We all help each other ... Dana Point, Newport Landing or the

lobster boats, they call us,” Patrick said.

California gray whales migrate from the Bering and Chuckchi seas

between Alaska and Russia to breed, Scott said. Whales can travel as

far south as the Sea of Cortez between Baja California and the

Mexican mainland.

In Newport Beach, whale-watching season lasts from the end of

December through April. The Balboa Village Business Improvement

District has announced a contest with a $250 prize for whale-watching

photos taken between Jan. 1 and March 31.