Whale season in full swing




LOOKING FOR MOBY DICK- A Pacific gray whale scrutinizes the humans watching him as he makes his way from the Arctic Circle to Mexico in an annual 12,000-mile trip. An adult gray whale can reach up to 46 feet in length and weigh 30 to 40 tons.

LOOKING FOR MOBY DICK- A Pacific gray whale scrutinizes the humans watching him as he makes his way from the Arctic Circle to Mexico in an annual 12,000-mile trip. An adult gray whale can reach up to 46 feet in length and weigh 30 to 40 tons.


Braving uncharacteristically cold and windy conditions, Jeff and Wyatt James climbed aboard the 64foot catamaran Island Adventure on a recent Saturday morning. Along with about 40 other people, the father and son hoped to catch sight of the Pacific gray whales on their southern migration to the warm waters of Baja California.

The peak season to watch the southbound grays as they start their 12,000-mile journey- the longest migration of any mammal on Earth- from the Arctic Circle to Mexico is late January to mid-February. Tom Flor, a volunteer with the Channel Islands Naturalist Corps, said the whales travel in three waves. Pregnant females take the lead from late December through January; then come breeding females and mature males. The last to head south are juvenile whales, usually by February.

The corps, sponsored by the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary and Channel Islands National Park, try to have one of their volunteers aboard every island cruise or whale watching trip that leaves from Oxnard, Ventura and Santa Barbara harbors. The marine sanctuary and national park are responsible for protecting five of the eight California Channel Islands- Anacapa, Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, San Miguel and Santa Barbara- and the six miles of water surrounding them.

While in Baja, the whales mate and those that are pregnant give birth to calves 15 feet in length and weighing about a ton. Sometimes births occur along the way.

The lagoons of Baja are the ideal environment for the newborn calf. Babies are born without much of the protective and buoyant blubber they’ll need in the colder northern waters. The waters of Baja are not only warmer but saltier, giving the babies more buoyancy.

Females give birth about every two years.

The whales stay in Baja long enough to allow the calves to bulk up. Owing to mother’s fatrich milk, the calves put on about a pound of blubber an hour, Flor said. Then around late February through March, the whales begin the return trip to Alaska. Mothers and calves generally take a route that hugs the coastline, taking advantage of kelp beds and shallow waters, which offer the vulnerable calves protection from killer whales, Flor said.

No longer endangered, but classified as a protected species, the Pacific gray has bounced back twice from near extinction. In the late 1800s, estimates put their number at fewer than 5,000, Flor said. These days more than 20,000 grays travel through the blue-green waters of the Pacific Ocean to make the Alaska-Baja journey every year of their life. Pacific gray whales can live for 50 to 60 years.

“They’re a beautiful, spectacular animal to watch,” Flor said.

Barnacles, whale lice and other parasites live on the slowswimming gray, which travels about 5 mph, or the speed of a child on a bicycle. The whale’s small passengers give it its characteristic mottled gray hues. Called filter feeders, they eat dead whale skin, zooplankton and the like that the whale passes as it swims, Flor said.

Pacific gray whales are bottom feeders, eating organisms that live in sediment at the bottom of the ocean. They have no teeth but string-like material called baleen that filters out mud and leaves food such as zooplankton and small schooling fishes.

Without a whale in sight, James took Wyatt out on deck several times to experience the thrill of the wind and waves. But it would take more than a boat ride to keep the 7-year-old from getting bored.

About an hour into the trip, the captain pointed out a small pod of common dolphins. They swam under and around the Adventure, and surfed the pressure waves the catamaran created.

“They’re very cool,” Wyatt said.

James has taken each of his two sons, Wyatt and 10-year-old Joey, on individual weekend trips every year since they turned 5. When all three are together, James finds he often must play the referee. But spending oneonone time with each boy James bonds with his sons, and hopes to keep communication lines open as they grow up.

“It creates the opportunity for conversation that doesn’t exist when there are two (boys),” James said. “If you stay involved in their life, when they’re teenagers you have the right to be involved . . . Then your child will not lock you out, because you’ve spent the time.”

While the men are off on their weekend trips, James’ wife, Stephanie, and 22-month-old Carly stay behind at the family’s San Fernando Valley home. When Carly turns 5, James will begin taking her on annual trips too.

Due to strong east winds, the captain decided to head up the coast near the city of Santa Barbara instead of toward one of the Channel Islands. The decision may have spared some the unpleasantness of seasickness but likely cost passengers a glimpse of the grays. No whale was sighted on the trip. The only marine mammals Wyatt, James and the other passengers saw were California sea lions, harbor seals and common and bottlenose dolphins.

It was a “dolphin-watching” trip, Wyatt said.

James and Wyatt may return in a few weeks to give it another try. And although Wyatt didn’t get to see a Pacific gray whale, it’s unlikely he’ll remember a disappointing trip.

“He’s not going to remember the whales, that’s for sure,” James said. “I think he’s going to remember just that we did it, that we did the trip.”

Whale watching trips depart from Oxnard and Ventura harbors daily through March. Island Packers in Ventura offers 3 1/2hour morning and afternoon trips at $27 for adults, $18 for children 12 and under and $23 for those 55 and over. Two-week advance reservations are suggested. Call (805) 3821779 for more information.

Channel Islands Sportfishing Center in Oxnard’s Channel Islands Harbor also offers two daily trips through March and will give passengers a free pass if no whales or dolphins are sighted. Adult tickets cost $25, $15 for youths 15 and under and $20 for seniors. Call (805) 3821612 for reservations or additional information.

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