Late to the party and making a big splash, this juvenile, northbound Gray whale appeared in front of us as we were trying to get a better look at the young Gray whale a mile behind the party crasher. No matter. The whale Counts!

We counted 26 today, including 2 calves escorted by their respective mothers. This year we have seen two mothers breach. A while back we saw a southbound mother breach in front of a boat to protect her calf. Today, a northbound mother breached, perhaps, to drive off the Common dolphins surrounding them in the nearshore. This was one of the largest groups of Commons we have seen in this crazy year. Apparently the fish have mostly moved further offshore because the water is too warm in the nearshore. Today, however, Grunion were massing outside the waves and dolphins and birds and sea lions were running for Grunion. The whales happened to be in the way, but mamma’s effort gave the pair a bit of room to roam.

We also saw Lags later in the day and some Bottlenose dolphins. Very late in the day, we found a Harbor seal in the waves in front of us.

Gray whales northbound (all) 26 | Calves 2 — 2015 Count 821 | 005

Hours 8:36