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Date: Saturday January 20th, 2023
Harbor: Channel Islands, Oxnard
Vessel: SUNFISH

Whales Spotted:

  • Gray Whales – Southbound – 7 (North of Anacapa) 6 (South of Anacapa)

Captain Alex Legaspi of the SUNFISH

Alex

Captains Report:

A break in recent winter storms finally gave us an excellent opportunity to kick off our whale watching season. This time of year, our primary focus are Gray Whales as they make their annual migration along the west coast of North America. On this trip, we witnessed 13 individuals passing both sides of Anacapa Island heading south towards the warm lagoons of Baja California Sur. Good weather provided us with fantastic views of several behaviors including flukes, big heart-shaped blows, and even multiple whales rolling and caressing each other in what we like to call a “cuddle puddle”! We watched for several minutes as these 30 ton giants displayed courtship and mating behavior, slowly rolling around with each other, waving their pectoral fins at all of us aboard SUNFISH with a very green coastline and Anacapa Island serving as an epic backdrop to the show as their huge fins broke the surface. Several more whales were spotted in the distance on both sides of Anacapa as we continued to circumnavigate the island, with all individuals heading south. We are very much looking forward to more encounters as these awesome animals continue their epic 12,000 mile round trip.

-Capt. A. Legaspi

Whale Gallery