Gray Whale Spotted Off Coast Of Oceanside

OCEANSIDE, CA — Whale watchers aboard an Oceanside Adventures vessel were treated to a special sight on New Year's Eve: a gray whale.

A gray whale was spotted heading south around 3 p.m. Tuesday off the coast of Oceanside. It was the whale watching company's first gray whale sighting of the season — just in time to end 2024.

Gray whale season is typically from December to April along the Oceanside coast, according to Donna Kalez, chief operating officer of Oceanside Adventures.

"It was wonderful to find our first California gray whale heading south on the last day of the year," Kalez told Patch. "There has been probably a dozen whales seen by other whale watching companies to the north of Oceanside, but we had not been able to find one until Tuesday. This season has been largely about the humpback whales that are farther off our coast, so we were all very excited to see this gray whale."