Blue whales making an unusual winter appearance. Humpbacks sticking around for months, a pair lunging out of the water in sync with one another in a video making a virtual splash. And thousands of dolphins have been feeding and stampeding off the coast.
Orange County’s waters have been teaming with wildlife in recent weeks, bringing unexpected appearances to the delight of ocean enthusiasts who have been able to get up close to the sea creatures just a few miles off the coast.
“There’s a bunch of whale sightings, it’s way more than usual this time of year,” said Newport Coastal Adventure photographer Mark Girardeau. “I always try to tell people – when it’s good, it’s good. No one knows how long it will last. It could be another couple weeks, or tomorrow they are gone. Nobody knows. That’s what makes it incredible.”
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What hasn’t been spotted much yet are gray whales, though this time of year is when they typically start their annual migration from Alaska to Mexico, passing Southern California.
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The large number of humpbacks spotted has created a buzz recently. They started showing up in September and October and seem to have decided to stick around, showing up in large numbers day after day.
Over the weekend, 15 different humpbacks – identified by the distinctive markings on their tails – were hanging out just a few miles off Newport Beach, charter captains reported. Another pod hung out off Dana Point and south Orange County waters.
Typically, a few will show up in early October for just a few days, then continue their journey from Monterey down to warmer, tropical waters. And when they do show, they are often much further away from the coastline.
“This year, there’s a bunch hanging around feeding. I’ve been going on the water for 10 years now, this is the best humpback fall season I’ve ever seen,” Girardeau said. “For us, if we see one or two whales, that’s a great trip. One trip yesterday, we saw 10 humpback whales. To have double-digit whales on a two-hour trip, it’s incredible.”
And they’ve been putting on a show for spectators.
“The lunge behavior is very rare here in Southern California,” Girardeau said, noting that seeing humpbacks jump out of the water to gulp down food is typically seen off places like Monterey.
What is causing the behavior is the same thing bringing thousands of dolphins, what he calls “super pods“: food pushed up to the surface of the sea.
“There’s so many dolphins pushing the anchovies to the surface, the bait is right at the surface. It’s making the whales come straight up and feed,” he said. “It’s just crazy to see that behavior here, it’s really awesome. The whales have been everywhere.”
Dana Wharf Sportfishing & Whale Watching Captain Tommy White recounted a rare moment on Nov. 26 when he spotted two humpbacks that looked like they were taking a nap, calmly floating on the surface.
All of a sudden, one made a sudden jerking move, then turned to its side. He told the passengers to get ready.
“Sometimes, when they do weird stuff like this, they’ll breach,” he said.
Sure enough, just as deckhand Otto Knottnerus turned on his camera, the whales leaped out of the water – at exactly the same time, in sync with one another.
“I’ve never seen that before,” White said.
Even though they are on their way to Mexico, the humpbacks are finding food and sticking around to eat, he said.
“The dolphins have been getting all the anchovies into balls as they have been feeding, the humpbacks have been coming right through them and eating the anchovies,” White said.
He was also the captain who spotted the blue whale duo hanging out on Sunday, Dec. 1. Typically, the blue whales, the largest mammals on the planet, show up in summer months from May through October.
“They were lost,” he joked. “They’re not supposed to be here this time of year. They are supposed to be headed toward the equator in tropical waters.”
Dana Wharf manager Donna Kalez said the last reported sighting of a blue whale off Dana Point was Aug. 25. The recent two were first spotted off Laguna Beach before passing right by the Dana Point Harbor.
“To see blue whales on Dec. 1, it’s crazy. We should be seeing gray whales,” she said. “They came and left, and no one has seen them again.”
While the migration patterns of humpbacks and blue whales are unpredictable, gray whales follow a distinct pattern, each year making the longest trek of any animal on the planet, from their feeding grounds in Alaska to where they give birth in the warm-water lagoons off Mexico.
The gray whale season typically starts in early December – the Los Angeles Chapter of the American Cetacean Society starts its annual volunteer count from the Point Vicente Interpretive Center on Dec. 1 – and runs through March, when they travel back north, passing Southern California again along the way.