The youngest whalers

Those who embark on two-hour whale watching voyages are not guaranteed a whale sighting.

But this time of year, as adult and baby gray whales make their way from the warm waters near Baja California to the chilly seas near Alaska, the odds are pretty good.

Newport Beach’s Davey’s Locker, headquartered in the Balboa Pavilion, is offering whale watching charters several times a day, seven days a week, through the end of March.

“It’s just hit and miss ? it’s 50-50, really,” Capt. Chris Goble said.

A water spout or a “footprint” ? a slick mark on the water surface created by a whale’s tail ? are the easiest signs to spot, Goble said.

“The only way to find a whale is to look for them with your eyes,” he told passengers on a trip Wednesday morning.

School children from Santa Ana’s Lincoln Elementary School and Costa Mesa’s TeWinkle Middle School packed the boat. Clinging to the wooden railings of the Freelance, the kids scanned the water.

Suddenly, the captain saw a footprint and alerted the passengers. Throwing the boat into neutral, he quieted the engine and told everyone to keep their voices down, so as to not scare the whale.

Then they appeared ? the barnacled backs of two gray whales, swimming 100 yards from the boat. The whales, about 30 to 40 feet long, appeared and then disappeared, captivating the kids and other whale watchers for more than 30 minutes.

The whales typically go underwater for three to five minutes, then resurface, Goble explained. Paulette Dunn, a teacher at Lincoln Elementary, said the fourth- and fifth-graders had studied whales before the trip.

“Most of them have never ever been on a boat, so this is just a great opportunity,” Dunn said.

Gray whales head to Baja California to calve in the winter. In March, adults and young swim to Alaska.

Although the grays are the most common, whale watchers have also spotted humpbacks, killer whales and a Dall’s porpoise off the Orange County coast.

“We’ve seen just about everything,” Goble said.

“It really is a cool thing,” said Costa Mesa resident Burgess Norminton, who’s sailed for most of his life and spotted whales all over the world.

“I’ve had them come up in the middle of the night and almost feel their breath,” he said.dpt.03-water-CPhotoInfo931OIKEA20060303ivj342knLAUREN VANE / DAILY PILOT(LA)Students from Lincoln Elementary School in Santa Ana and TeWinkle Middle School in Costa Mesa search for signs of gray whales.