By DAVE SCHWAB
January brings rain and cooler temperatures as well as the seasonal grey whale migration along the San Diego coast, which can be captured by locals and visitors alike taking boats or even kayaks.
Since 1935, sportfishing specialists H&M Landing, at 2803 Emerson St. in Point Loma, have been escorting passengers to their destinations, whether that be fishing in the La Jolla kelp beds or glimpsing migrating whales offshore.
“We’ve been doing three-hour whale watching tours since 1956 in our 80-foot boats with seating inside and out and a full galley departing twice daily at 9 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.,” said Katrina Coleman, H&M spokeswoman.
Whale watching started early this year.
“We’ve been sighting quite a few grey whales coming down, as well as common dolphins and sea lions,” Coleman said, noting H&M whaling-watching captain Scott McCandliss gives a well-versed narration on the leviathans, having previously worked on boats at Scammons Lagoon in Baja, California, where whales spawn.
Greys migrate annually between feeding and breeding grounds. They can grow to 49 feet in length and weigh 36 tons, living 55 to 70 years. They feed mainly on crustaceans from the sea floor.
Each October, small groups of greys in the eastern Pacific start a two- to three-month, 5,000- to 6,800-mile trip south, believed to be the longest annual migration of any mammal traveling along the west coast of Canada, the United States and Mexico.
Traveling nonstop, the gray whale averages about 75 miles per day. By late December to early January, grays begin to arrive in the calving lagoons of Baja. By mid-February to mid-March, the bulk of the population has arrived in the lagoons, filling them with nursing, calving and mating gray whales.
Those who prefer to view whales up close and personal can do so by kayak, renting them from institutions like Everyday California, at 2246 Avenida De La Playa in La Jolla Shores.
Why view whales from a kayak rather than a boat?
“It’s more environmentally conscious, not disturbing whales with noise pollution from (boat) engines, and you can get closer,” said Everyday tour guide Steve Anderson, who noted two guides typically host groups of ten persons each on kayak tours, paddling out for half an hour to cover the three miles needed to get out into the ocean pathways greys take migrating south.
Kayak whalewatching tours go out three times daily from 9-10:30 a.m., 10:30 a.m. to noon and 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., said Anderson, adding the cost is $40 per person. H&M’s Coleman said whale watching excursions are $20 per person Mondays and Tuesdays and $45 a head the rest of the week, with fare discounts for seniors, the military and children.
