Gray Whales Make Early SoCal Arrival
Gray whales usually swim off the Southern California coast later in the year, but at Point Vicente, whale spotters have seen more sightings in December than they have in 28 years.
Cary Berglund, Kristopher Li
Gray Whales usually swim off the Southern California coast later in the year, but at Point Vicente, whale spotters have seen more sightings of whales in December than they have in 28 years.
Whale watchers are coming to the coast in droves to see Gray whales.
Gray whales usually cruise through Southern California waters toward the end of December, but this year they have come early, and in greater numbers.
In fact, the Gray Whale migration has been astounding even to the experts.
Volunteers at the Point Vicente Interpretive Center, have been watching whales since the early '80s.
So far in December they've spotted 163 whales, the most in 28 years.
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The early whale visitors this year have the experts shaking their heads.
"It's all exciting," says Alisa Shulman-Janiger of the Gray Whale Census and Behavior Project. "You never know what you're going to see."
But why are they here so early?
"The best possibility is that they've had really good feeding for the last two years and they may have just, sort of, filled their tanks," says Shulman-Janiger. "They may be full, and ready to head down to Mexico to mate along the way and to give birth. So the last two years have had fantastic feeding seasons and the whales we've seen have mostly been in great condition.
Whatever the reason, fans are happy to see the whales.
"I just feel like they're graceful people," says watcher Chloe le Barillez. "I feel like they're living beings and they're just trying to go south to deliver their babies."
For those who want to go see the whales, there is still time. The migration is expected to last for another couple of weeks, then soon after that, they will head back up north again.
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