Whales

Gray whales have been swimming past Piedras Blancas, giving visitors a good view. We watched two cow-calf pairs swim by on Thursday while we were on the bluff. Visitors were thrilled. I usually wait for visitors to approach me with questions, but I made a point of telling them to look up from the beach and look for whales spouting.

In the case of mother-calf pairs, it's easy to see a small spout and a much larger one. At this time of year, mothers are migrating north from Mexico with their calves, which were born there.

A more troubling story is of an entangled whale first spotted off San Onofre.The Whale Entanglement Team was able to remove some of the fish netting that it was snarled in, but the whale wasn't willing to stick around for more of that. It swam off, with buoys attached. It has since been spotted north of Pidreas Blancas, at Gorda. I'll keep posting as news is reported.