Orange County — By Abbie Mood on February 16, 2010 at 7:26 pm
Filed under: featuredarticle, whale-watching

It’s Whale Watching Season in Newport Beach!

Mid-70 degrees, sunny blue skies, and a slight ocean breeze… Monday was the perfect day for cruising the coast of Newport Beach looking for whales! December through April are the main months for whale migration, so our chances of spying one of the large mammals were pretty good.

After doing some research on the internet about whale watching in Southern California, I came across Newport Whales, who offer two 2.5 hour cruises per day. I made my reservation online so I was ready come Monday!

Newport Whales recommends you park at the beach lot ($8/day) and then walk across the street to the Newport boardwalk, near the Auto Ferry, to where the boats are docked (map). After stopping by the Newport Whales “store” (they share a business with a sport fishing company), I walked down the boardwalk to my boat, the Ocean Explorer.

The boat trudged along in the bay, past the sailboats and the kayakers. Once we got into the open ocean, we almost immediately spotted dolphins. They were Pacific white sided dolphins, and they put on quite a show! Jumping in and out of the water, swimming right along side our boat, and bowriding (swimming along the wake of the boat).

Two of the dolphins swimming next to the boat!

A little bit later, the announcement came on the boat speakers, “we have a small boat at 12 o’clock that has spotted a gray whale.” We all went to the front of boat, cameras poised and ready. And we waited. And waited. No whale. We drove closer to the small boat and was told that the whale was between us and the other boat, so we should see something in about 4 minutes.

But we didn’t see anything. The boat captain told us that sometimes when whales see boats they “snorkel” which means they don’t come up out of the water for air, they just skim the surface. It seemed as though our gray whale was doing just that. As we were getting ready to pull away, a few of us passengers noticed a bubble come up out of the water. Then the captain announced that the whale had just swam under the boat. We missed him!

After about 30 more minutes, it was time to head back. We weren’t going to see a whale this time. We stopped by a buoy on the way back and saw some sea lions lounging in the sun.

Overall, it was a beautiful day to be out on a boat, and while we saw some dolphins and sea lions, we didn’t see any whales. The boat captain and staff were very friendly and knowledgeable, and Newport Whales gave us all 50% off coupons so that we could come back and try again someday. I will definitely take them up on that!

Newport Whales

309 Palm Street, Newport Beach (map)

Cost: $30 per adult, $25 for 12 & under or 60 & over

Reservations: Online or by calling (949) 675-0551

Cruise times:

September – April, Monday – Friday: 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.

September – April, Saturday & Sunday: 9 a.m., 12 p.m., 2:30 p.m.

Boat information:

The Ocean Explorer holds around 90 people without feeling too crowded. There are outside benches as well as an inside seating area with a snack bar (sodas, chips, granola bars), and a bathroom.

Disclaimer: Newport Whales provided me with a complimentary ticket, but the opinions expressed are my own.

Photo Credit: Abbie Mood

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