See California Whale Festivals, and See Whales
If you missed the exciting whale festivals in San Diego and San Pedro recently, you can still get in on the whale craze starting this weekend by seeing whale festivals in Dana Point, Rancho Palos Verdes, Mendocino and Point Cabrillo. California whale festivals range in activities from a Whale parade, sand castle building, car show, grunion run, paddleboarding and kayaking, to chowder tasting, wine & beer sampling, and even riding out in the Pacific Ocean to watch the whales up close and personal. It’s a whale of a party but you have to get to the coast to celebrate. Dana Point loves whales so much (see right photo above) that they continue the party next week with more races, shows, concerts, art, boat rides and all things whale. Whale celebrations migrate through the state this month, also appearing in Oxnard, Little River, Fort Bragg, and in April there are happenings in Malibu and Gualala. Whale watching excursions are extremely popular and fairly affordable so you may want to head for the ocean and wish for good luck in spotting these giants of the sea.
WHALE FACTS
California official marine mammal is the gray whale.
The annual migration of more than 18,000 gray whales begins high in Alaskan waters.
Gray whales travel south to their breeding and birthing waters in Baja California.
Whales travel 70 to 80 miles per day at a rate of three to five miles per hour.
The 12,000-mile round-trip trek is the longest known distance any mammal migrates on an annual basis.
Gray whales migrate in small groups and stay fairly close to the shoreline for protection from predators such as killer whales.
By mid-February, the migration pattern reverses as the whales lead their new-born calves back to the chilly Arctic waters of the Bering Sea in Alaska.
