Mom, Baby Gray Whale Spotted Off Dana Point: Heart-Shaped Spout

DANA POINT, CA — It was a busy whale watching day this week for visitors to the Whale Watching Capital of the World in Dana Point. A mother and baby gray whale were spotted for the first time this season, according to a report from Giselle Anderson of Capt. Dave's Dolphin & Whale Watching Safari.

"On Tuesday, passengers and crew aboard Manute’a, the whale watching catamaran operated by Capt. Dave’s Dolphin & Whale Watching Safari, encountered Dana Point’s first gray whale mother and calf pair of the 2021-2022 season," Anderson tells Patch.

The pair were sighted just off the Headlands as they made their way south to Baja California, Mexico.

"While swimming next to mom, the tiny calf spouted a heart-shaped blow," she said.

Although many pregnant gray whales give birth in the warm and protected lagoons in Baja, some calves don’t want to wait and are born along the migration route, according to the whale watching group.

"The Baja lagoons offer safety from predators such as orcas and warmth for calves who have not yet built up a thick layer of blubber to keep them warm," Anderson says.

A few facts about the Gray whales from Anderson.

• Calves are about 15 feet long when they’re born and will gain over 50 pounds a day feeding on their mother’s milk.
• Mothers can lose 30 percent of their body weight nursing one calf on milk that contains over 50 percent fat.
• Gray whale adults average between 40 to 50 feet in length and weigh 30 to 40 tons.

BothCapt. Dave's Dolphin & Whale Watching Safari and Dana Wharf Whale Watching tours offer tours for visitors, daily from Dana Point Harbor.

With a variety of year-round whales, more dolphins per square mile than anywhere in the world, pristine coastline, calm seas, the first and longest-running annual Festival of Whales, and a captivating harbor minutes from the open ocean, Dana Point, California, is the Dolphin and Whale Watching Capital of the World.