Whale Watching 1/20/13

A crystal clear warm day in San Diego.  Went kayaking on Sunday with my buddy Sue to hunt for Gray Whales.  We launched at Marine Room. There was no surf at all along this section of beach and the surface was glassy as far as we could see. A forty minute paddle to about two miles off La Jolla Shores, but just a half mile from the Chidren's Pool is where we headed.  This is where we most often see whales.  There must be some kind of underwater geographical feature that channels them here. Everytime I have seen a whale from my kayak it has been in this area.

No sooner had we reached our desination then we started spotting them.  The one pictured below would breach and exhale about five times and then sound, its tail would rise and then disappear below the surface for a deep dive.  He would then be gone for about five minutes.  We witnessed this about four times.  And though we are not sure it may have been the same whale.  This is based on timing and the repeated behavior.

 

 

 

But we know for a fact that there were more than one in the area as we did see more than one spout at a time

PIctures speak a thousand words

 

The water was so still and glassy you can see my reflection.  This was taken at our furthist point from shore in open water.  Hardly a ripple.

 

 

Then back at The Marine Room we were able to see the Leopard Sharks where they hang out in the shallows.  There were dozens of them.  This is a yearly occurance.  but not usually at this time of year.  This is very unusual.  This is more a late spring and summer phenomena.