The season for blue whales is staying unusually strong off the coast of Orange County, where charter boats are reporting strong numbers of sightings later in the year than they ever have in the past.
Capt. Dave’s Dolphin and Whale Watching Safari reported seven sightings Wednesday and 12 sightings on Tuesday. The total number of blue whale sightings so far in October is 45, whereas last year this time there were only a handful of blue whales off our coast.
The blue whale season usually ends in mid-September, and boats start prepping for the gray whales, which come down from Alaska during the winter and can be seen off the Orange County coast on their way to breed in Baja, California.
Random sightings of one or two blue whales happened last year this time, but nothing like the numbers charter boats are seeing now, said Gisele Anderson, Capt. Dave’s wife. Boat captains are reporting massive amount of krill off the coast, which the blue whales eat. The whales are the largest mammals on Earth.
“This is just amazing,” she said.
The blue whales found a home here in Orange County about five years ago, coming down south from Central California. It’s unknown how long they will stick around, likely until their food source runs out.
In the video below taken the other day, it looks as if a blue whale was just as curious as those on the boat - circling around and coming up close to passengers.
“Look at that, he’s right here,” Capt. Dave Anderson says to the passengers on the boat. “Oh my, this thing is just totally checking us out.”
For more info on charter boats, click here. Capt. Dave’s is also the only whale watching boat to stream live video of their trips, so if you are stuck behind a desk, check out the blue whales at whalewatchingtv.com.
